Quotes by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change. The sun might shine, or the clouds might lour: but nothing could appear to me as it had done the day before.”

“Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed?”

“Solitude was my only consolation - deep, dark, deathlike solitude.”

“At these moments I took refuge in the most perfect solitude. I passed whole days on the lake alone in a little boat, watching the clouds, and listening to the rippling of the waves, silent and list...”

“This advice, although good, was totally inapplicable to my case.”

“What is there in our nature that is for ever urging us on towards pain and misery?”

“It was not in her nature to stop short at half-measures, not to pause when once she had fixed her purpose. If she ever trembled on looking forward to the utter ruin she was about to encounter, her ...”

“Strange and harrowing must be his story; frightful the storm which embraced the gallant vessel on its course, and wrecked it--thus!”

“Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?”

“Oh, had I, weak and faint of speech, words to teach my fellow-creatures the beauty and capabilities of man's mind; could I, or could one more fortunate, breathe the magic word which would reveal to...”

“I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If...”

“There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand.”

“The very winds whispered in soothing accents, and maternal Nature bade me weep no more.”

“There is love in me the likes of which you've never seen. There is rage in me the likes of which should never escape. If I am not satisfied int he one, I will indulge the other.”

“I, a miserable wretch, haunted by a curse that shut up every avenue to enjoyment.”

“Increase of knowledge only discovered to me more clearly what a wretched outcast I was. I cherished hope, it is true, but it vanished when I beheld my person reflected in water or my shadow in the ...”

“Sometimes I could cope with the sullen despair that overwhelmed me: but sometimes the whirlwind passions of my soul drove me to seek, by bodily exercise and by change of place, some relief from my ...”

“Richard, marked for misery and defeat, acknowledged that power which sentiment possesses to exalt usto convince us that our minds, endowed with a soaring, restless aspiration, can find no repose on...”

“Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master;--obey!”

“My reign is not yet over... you live, and my power is complete. Follow me; I seek the everlasting ices of the north, where you will feel the misery of cold and frost to which I am impassive. You wi...”