I must love and be loved. I must feel that my dear and chosen friends are happier through me. When I have wandered out of myself in my endeavour to shed pleasure around, I must again return laden with the gathered sweets on which I feed and live. Permit this to be, unblamedpermit a heart whose sufferings have been, and are, so many and so bitter, to reap what joy it can from the necessity it feels to be sympathized withto love.
friendship grief happiness love mourning suffering

About This Quote

About Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was a 18th-century English writer. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Read more on Wikipedia →

Themes

  • Friendship — Celebrating the bonds of loyalty, trust, and companionship
  • Happiness — Thoughts on finding joy, contentment, and fulfilment
  • Love — Quotes exploring romantic love, compassion, and human connection

More quotes by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

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“Volume II: Chapter V What are we, the inhabitants of this globe, least among the many that people infinite space? Our minds embrace infinity; the visible mechanism of our being is subject to merest...”
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“Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries.”
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“Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.”
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