"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
Context
Rochester has posed a hypothetical question about whether a repentant sinner is justified in defying social convention to attach himself to a morally regenerating person. Jane offers this response.
Analysis
Jane's parallelism—'Men and women die; philosophers falter in wisdom, and Christians in goodness'—systematically dismantles categories of human authority (gender, intellectual achievement, religious virtue) to argue that all fellow-creatures are equally unreliable. By framing her answer as Christian orthodoxy ('look higher than his equals'), she claims the moral high ground while rejecting the role Rochester is offering her: that of being his salvation.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Jane uses religious language as a tool of independence—by insisting that redemption comes from God alone, she refuses the position of redemptive angel that would make her responsible for Rochester's moral state and thus subject to his need.