Home > Work > Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

Frankenstein: The 1818 Text QUOTES

Frankenstein: The 1818 Text QUOTES

1 " Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

2 " There was a considerable difference between the ages of my parents, but this circumstance seemed to unite them only closer in bonds of devoted affection. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

3 " One as deformed and horrible as myself, could not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species, and have the same defects... with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being... "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

4 " I need not describe the feelings of those whose dearest ties are rent by that most irreparable evil, the void that presents itself to the soul, and the despair that is exhibited on the countenance. It is so long before the mind can persuade itself that she whom we saw every day and whose very existence appeared a part of our own can have departed forever—that the brightness of a beloved eye can have been extinguished and the sound of a voice so familiar and dear to the ear can be hushed, never more to be heard. These are the reflections of the first days; but when the lapse of time proves the reality of the evil, then the actual bitterness of grief commences. Yet from whom has not that rude hand rent away some dear connection? And why should I describe a sorrow which all have felt, and must feel? The time at length arrives when grief is rather an indulgence than a necessity; and the smile that plays upon the lips, although it may be deemed a sacrilege, is not banished. My mother was dead, but we had still duties which we ought to perform; we must continue our course with the rest and learn to think ourselves fortunate whilst one remains whom the spoiler has not seized. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

5 " Why did I not die? More miserable than man ever was before, why did I not sink into forgetfulness and rest? Death snatches away many blooming children, the only hopes of their doting parents: how many brides and youthful lovers have been one day in the bloom of health and hope, and the next a prey for worms and the decay of the tomb! Of what materials was I made, that I could thus resist so many shocks, which, like the turning of the wheel, continually renewed the torture?
But I was doomed to live; "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

6 " Heavy misfortunes have befallen us, but let us only cling closer to what remains, and transfer our love for those whom we have lost to those who yet live. Our circle will be small, but bound close by the ties of affection and mutual misfortune. And when time shall have softened your despair, new and dear objects of care will be born to replace those of whom we have been so cruelly deprived. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

7 " I do not ever remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition or to have feared the apparition of a spirit. Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, and a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

8 " Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on the rock. I wished sometimes to shake off all thought and feeling, but I learned that there was but one means to overcome the sensation of pain, and that was death -- a state which I feared yet did not understand. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

9 " My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

10 " A mind of moderate capacity which closely pursues one study must infallibly arrive at great proficiency in that study. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

11 " In other studies you go as far as other have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

12 " If your wish is to become really a man of science and not merely a petty experimentalist, I should advise you to apply to every branch of natural philosophy, including mathematics. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

13 " My courage and my resolution is firm; but my hopes fluctuate, and my spirits are often depressed. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

14 " It may...be judged indecent in me to come forward on this occasion; but when I see a fellow-creature about to perish through the cowardice of her pretended friends, I wish to be allowed to speak, that I may say what I know of her character. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

15 " My life, as it passes thus, was indeed hateful to me, and it was during sleep alone that I could taste joy. O blessed sleep! "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

16 " I had desired it with an ardor that far exceeded moderation, but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

17 " Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

18 " Plutarch taught me high thoughts; he elevated me above the wretched sphere of my own reflections, to admire and love the heroes of past ages. Many things I read surpassed my understanding and experience. I had a very confused knowledge of kingdoms, wide extents of country, mighty rivers, and boundless seas. This book developed new and mightier scenes of action. I read of men concerned in public affairs, governing or massacring their species. I felt the greatest ardour for virtue rise within me, and abhorrence for vice. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

19 " The course of the Rhine below Mainz becomes much more picturesque. The river descends rapidly and winds between hills, not high, but steep, and of beautiful forms. We saw many ruined castles standing on the edges of precipices, surrounded by black woods, high and inaccessible. This part of the Rhine, indeed, presents a singularly variegated landscape. In one spot you view rugged hills, ruined castles overlooking tremendous precipices, with the dark Rhine rushing beneath; and on the sudden turn of a promontory, flourishing vineyards with green sloping banks and a meandering river and populous towns occupy the scene. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

20 " Now I am twenty-eight, and am in reality more illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen. It is true that I have thought more, and that my day dreams are more extended and magnificent; but they want (as the painters call it) keeping; and I greatly need a friend who would have sense enough not to despise me as romantic, and affection enough for me to endeavour to regulate my mind. "

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , Frankenstein: The 1818 Text