Anne Brontë

She was trusted and valued by her father, loved and courted by all dogs, cats, children, and poor people, and slighted and neglected by everybody else.

All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity, that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut.

It is all very well to talk about noble resistance, and trials of virtue; but for fifty⁠—or five hundred men that have yielded to temptation, show me one that has had virtue to resist.

I believe you might search all England through, and fail to find a happier couple.

She had brought her knitting with her, and it seemed as if her tongue had laid a wager with her fingers, to outdo them in swift and ceaseless motion.

Though riches had charms, poverty had no terrors for an inexperienced girl like me.

I hate talking where there is no exchange of ideas or sentiments, and no good given or received.

The name of governess, I soon found, was a mere mockery as applied to me: my pupils had no more notion of obedience than a wild, unbroken colt.

If life promised no enjoyment within my vocation, at least it offered no allurements out of it; and henceforth I would put my shoulder to the wheel and toil away, like any poor drudge of a carthorse that was fairly broken in to its labour, and plod through life, not wholly useless if not agreeable, and uncomplaining if not contented with my lot.

Patience, Firmness, and Perseverance were my only weapons; and these I resolved to use to the utmost.

Because, my dear, beauty is that quality which, next to money, is generally the most attractive to the worst kinds of men; and, therefore, it is likely to entail a great deal of trouble on the possessor.

Kindness, which had been the food of my life through so many years, had lately been so entirely denied me, that I welcomed with grateful joy the slightest semblance of it.

No consideration can induce me to marry against my inclinations.

I had been seasoned by adversity, and tutored by experience, and I longed to redeem my lost honour in the eyes of those whose opinion was more than that of all the world to me.

I perceive the backs of young ladies’ drawings, like the postscripts of their letters, are the most important and interesting part of the concern.

But if I could be always young, I would be always single.

What you see in life I don’t know⁠—I see only the blackness of darkness, and a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation!

I should have been invisible to Hatfield, or any other gentleman of those parts.

There are times when, with a momentary pang⁠—a flash of wild dismay, I ask myself, “Helen, what have you done?”

The human heart is like India-rubber; a little swells it, but a great deal will not burst it.