"If I ever did a good deed in my life-if ever I thought a good thought-if ever I wished a
righteous wish-I am rewarded now! To be your wife is, for me, to be as happy as I can be
on earth.""
- Jane
"If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust; the wicked
people would have it all their own way: they would never feel afraid, and so they would
never alter, but would grow worse and worse."
- Jane Eyre
"If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved
you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends."
- Helen Burns
"I knew," he continued, "you would do me good in some way, at some time; - I saw it in
your eyes when I first beheld you: their expression and smile did not ... strike delight to my
inmost heart so for nothing."
"You must be on your guard against her; you must shun her example: if necessary, avoid
her company, exclude her from your sports, and shut her out from your converse.
Teachers, you must watch her: keep your eyes on her movements, weight well her words,
scrutinize her actions, punish her body to saver her soul; if indeed, such salvation be
possible for (my tongue falters while I tell it) this girl, this child, the native of a Christian
land, worse than many a little heathen who says its prayers to Brahma and kneels before
Juggernaut - this girl is - a liar!"
- Mr. Brocklehurst
"There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the
leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was
no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a
rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question. I was glad
of it: I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons: dreadful to me was the
coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by
the chidings of Bessie, the nurse, humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority
to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed."
- Jane Eyre
"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. A missionary's
wife you must - shall be. You shall be mine: I claim you - not for my pleasure, but for my
Sovereign's service."
- St. John Rivers
"I am very happy, Jane; and when you hear that I am dead you must be sure and not
grieve: there is nothing to grieve about. We all must die one day, and the illness which is
removing me is not painful; it is gentle and gradual: my mind is at rest. I leave no one to
regret me much: I have only a father; and he is lately married, and will not miss me. By
dying young I shall escape great sufferings. I had not qualities or talents to make my way
very well in the world: I should have been continually at fault."
- Helen Burns
"I could not help it; the restlessness was in my nature; it agitated me to pain sometimes.
Then my sole relief was to walk along the corridor of the third story, backwards and
forwards, safe in the silence and solitude of the spot, and allow my mind’s eye to dwell on
whatever bright visions rose before it—and, certainly, they were many and glowing; to let
my heart be heaved by the exultant movement . . . and, best of all, to open my inward ear
to a tale that was never ended—a tale my imagination created, and narrated continuously;
quickened with all of incident, life, fire, feeling, that I desired and had not in my actual
existence. It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must
have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it. Millions are condemned to a stiller
doom than mine, and millions are in silent revolt against their lot. Nobody knows how many
rebellions besides political rebellions ferment in the masses of life which people earth."
- This passage appears in Chapter 12, in the midst of Jane’s description of her first few
weeks at Thornfield.
"“Shall I?” I said briefly; and I looked at his features, beautiful in their harmony, but
strangely formidable in their still severity; at his brow, commanding, but not open; at his
eyes, bright and deep and searching, but never soft; at his tall imposing figure; and fancied
myself in idea his wife. Oh! it would never do! As his curate, his comrade, all would be
right: I would cross oceans with him in that capacity; toil under Eastern suns, in Asian
deserts with him in that office; admire and emulate his courage and devotion and vigour:
accommodate quietly to his masterhood; smile undisturbed at his ineradicable ambition. . .
. I should suffer often, no doubt, attached to him only in this capacity: my body would be
under a rather stringent yoke, but my heart and mind would be free. I should still have my
unblighted self to turn to: my natural unenslaved feelings with which to communicate in
moments of loneliness."
- This passage occurs in Chapter 35. St. John Rivers has just asked Jane to join him as
his wife on his missionary trip to India.
"I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will
never come to visit you when I am grown up; and if any one asks me how I liked you, and
how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated
me with miserable cruelty. . . . 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. I shall remember how
you thrust me back . . . into the red-room. . . . And that punishment you made me suffer
because your wicked boy struck me—knocked me down for nothing. I will tell anybody who
asks me questions this exact tale."
- This quotation, part of Jane’s outburst to her aunt just prior to her departure from
Gateshead for Lowood School, appears in Chapter 4.
"Beauty is in the eye of the gazer"
- Chapter 17