Ere I had finished this reply, my soul began to expand, to exult, with the strangest sense of freedom, of triumph, I ever felt. It seemed as if an invisible bond had burst, and that I had struggled out into unhoped-for liberty.
Chapter 4 · Narrator
How dare I, Mrs. Reed? How dare I? Because it is the truth. You think I have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so: and you have no pity.
Chapter 4 · Jane Eyre
Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags.
Chapter 12 · Narrator
It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.
Chapter 12 · Narrator
To live, for me, Jane, is to stand on a crater-crust which may crack and spue fire any day.
Chapter 20 · Edward Rochester
"Sir," I answered, "a wanderer's repose or a sinner's reformation should never depend on a fellow-creature. Men and women die; philosophers falter in wisdom, and Christians in goodness: if any one you know has suffered and erred, let him look higher than his equals for strength to amend and solace to heal."
Chapter 20 · Jane Eyre
My future husband was becoming to me my whole world; and more than the world: almost my hope of heaven. He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun. I could not, in those days, see God for His creature: of whom I had made an idol.
Chapter 24 · Narrator
"I am not an angel," I asserted; "and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself."
Chapter 24 · Jane Eyre
"I scorn your idea of love," I could not help saying, as I rose up and stood before him, leaning my back against the rock. "I scorn the counterfeit sentiment you offer: yes, St. John, and I scorn you when you offer it."
Chapter 34 · Jane Eyre
His idea was still with me, because it was not a vapour sunshine could disperse, nor a sand-traced effigy storms could wash away; it was a name graven on a tablet, fated to last as long as the marble it inscribed.
Chapter 34 · Narrator
God and nature intended you for a missionary's wife. It is not personal, but mental endowments they have given you: you are formed for labour, not for love.
Chapter 34 · St John Rivers
I am no better than the old lightning-struck chestnut-tree in Thornfield orchard. And what right would that ruin have to bid a budding woodbine cover its decay with freshness?
Chapter 37 · Edward Rochester
I told you I am independent, sir, as well as rich: I am my own mistress.
Chapter 37 · Jane Eyre
No, sir! I am an independent woman now.
Chapter 37 · Jane Eyre