45+ Best Charlotte Brontë Quotes From The Author Of 'Jane Eyre'

Sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne all wrote literary classics that are read and revered today.

Charlotte Bronte was the eldest of the sisters, and played the role of a motherly figure and friends in the lives of all the siblings, including brother Branwell.

Charlotte Bronte published three novels in total, 'Jane Eyre', 'Shirley' and 'Vilette'; her first novel 'The Professor' was rejected by many publishers for the first time, but was later published after her passing.

Charlotte Bronte had to wait for Jane Eyre’s release to be termed as novelist.  It became an immediate success, garnering great reviews from all. It was called an “improper book” as rumours surfaced that  it was written by a woman. However, that didn’t affect the sales of the book, in fact it may have increased in some cases.

'Jane Eyre', her novel, is about a plain governess who falls in love with her employer, Mr. Rochester, who is married to a mad woman. They  marry after the first wife dies in a dramatic house fire.

It is rumoured to be inspired by a real person. We could say that this novel was one of the first novels fitting within the Gothic melodrama genre.

There could be some similarities between Charlotte Bronte experience at Brussels where she attained a boarding school run by Constantin Heger and his wife. She attained this school with Emily.. Apart from Charlotte Bronte quotes, you could also read ['Jane Eyre' quotes] and Emily Bronte quotes here.

Best Charlotte Bronte Quotes

Emily’s 'The Wuthering Heights' gave her instant fame, too. The Bronte sisters were gaining fame based on their work which gave way to many writers and novelists ' comments about their work.

Enjoy these quotes by Charlotte Bronte, covering topics of the heart, sympathy, the experience of human being and more. Here are a few Charlotte Bronte quotes for your perusal: -

1. “You know full well as I do the value of sisters’ affections: There is nothing like it in this world.”

- 'The Professor'.

2. “I would always rather be happy than dignified.”

- ‘Jane Eyre’.

3. “It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; they will make it if they cannot find it.”

- ‘Jane Eyre’.

4. “I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had the courage to go forth into its expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst its perils.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

5. “The eagerness of a listener quickens the tongue of a narrator.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

6. “It is a pity that doing one’s best does not always answer.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

7. “You are human and fallible.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

8. “I ask you to pass through life at my side-to be my second self, and best earthly companion.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

9. “Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow firm there, firm as weeds among stones.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

10. “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

11. “Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

12. “Crying does not indicate that you are weak. Since birth, it has always been a sign that you are alive.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

13. “No mockery in the world ever sounds to me as hollow as that of being told to cultivate happiness. Happiness is not a potato, to be planted in mould, and tilled with manure.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

14. “The human heart has hidden treasures, in secret kept, in silence sealed; The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures, whose charms were broken if revealed.”

- ‘Evening Solace'.

Famous Charlotte Bronte Quotes

Charlotte Brontë had a difficult life when comes to love and marriage - but she eventually found happiness. Her struggle for love was remarkable - breaking stereotypes during those times.

So, why not read some Charlotte Bronte quotes with your friends? Charlotte Bronte quotes are great fun and have deep meanings to them, too. Here a few Charlotte Bronte love quotes for you.

15. “I have a strange feeling with regard to you...As if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly knotted to a similar string in you. And if you were to leave, I’m afraid that cord of communion would snap. And I have a notion that I’d take to bleeding inwardly...As for you, you’d forget me.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

16. “And it is you, spirit--with will and energy, and virtue and purity--that I want, not alone with your brittle frame.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

17. “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unstained I am, the more I will respect myself.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

18. “Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

19. “Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

20. “Flirting is a woman’s trade; one must keep in practice.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

21. “The soul, fortunately, has an interpreter - often an unconscious but still a faithful interpreter - in the eye.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

22. “If men could see us as we really are, they would be a little amazed.”

- 'Shirley, A Tale'.

23. “Conventionality is not morality.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

24.  "Your will shall decide your destiny.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

25. “I try to avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward.”

- Charlotte Brontë.

26. “It is not violence that best overcomes hate – nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

27. “But life is a battle: may we all be enabled to fight it well!”

- Charlotte Brontë.

28. “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.”

- Charlotte Brontë.

29. "The shadows are as important as the light."

- Charlotte Brontë.

30. "There is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort."

- Charlotte Brontë.

Charlotte Bronte Quotes About Life And Love

The Bronte sisters published their work under a pseudonym of Currer Bell (Charlotte), Ellis Bell (Emily), and Acton Bell (Anne) but later revealed their identity. On using a pseudonym, Charlotte Bronte, says that it was a conscious decision to protect their personal identity and write under a definite masculine name as their writing wasn’t the feminine kinds.

Here are a few Charlotte Bronte quotations for you.

31. "Better to be without logic than without feeling."

- Charlotte Brontë.

32. "Better to try all things and find all empty, than to try nothing and leave your life a blank."

- Charlotte Brontë.

33. "Life is so constructed, that the event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation."

- Charlotte Brontë.

34. "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.

When we are struck without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should - so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again."

- Charlotte Brontë.

35. "God did not give me my life to throw it away."

- Charlotte Bronte.

36. “Reader, I married him.”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

37. “ Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless?

You think wrong! - I have as much soul as you, - and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you!”

- 'Jane Eyre'.

38. “Love is real - the most real, the most lasting, the sweetest and yet the bitterest thing we know.”

- ‘Shirley'.

39. “ I mean that I value vision, and dread being struck stone blind.”

- ‘Villette'.

40. “I could bend you with my finger and my thumb…But whatever I do with this cage, I cannot get at you, and it is your soul that I want.”

- ‘Jane Eyre'.

Relatable Quotes From Charlotte Bronte

Elizabeth Gaskell published Charlotte Bronte's biography titled, 'The Life Of Charlotte Bronte' in 1857. The book covers the life story of the famous novelist. Here are a few Charlotte Bronte quotes for you and quotes about Charlotte Bronte herself for you to enjoy.

41. “Give him enough rope and he will hang himself.”

- Charlotte Bronte.

42. “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.”

- Elizabeth Gaskell.

43. “A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow.”

- Charlotte Bronte.

44. “I feel monotony and death to be almost the same.”

- Charlotte Bronte.

45. “If I could I would always work in silence and obscurity, and let my efforts be known by their results.”

- Charlotte Bronte.

46. “Men judge us by the success of our efforts. God looks at the efforts themselves.”

- Charlotte Bronte.

47. “Cheerfulness, it would appear, is a matter which depends fully as much on the state of things within, as on the state of things without and around us.”

- Charlotte Bronte.

48. “Memory in youth is active and easily impressible; in old age it is comparatively callous to new impressions, but still retains vividly those of earlier years.”

- Elizabeth Gaskell.

49. “I'm just going to write because I cannot help it.”

- Charlotte Bronte.

50. “You had no right to be born; for you make no use of life. Instead of living for, in, and with yourself, as a reasonable being sought, you seek only to fasten your feebleness on some other person's strength.”

- Charlotte Bronte.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for the best Charlotte Bronte quotes from the author of 'Jane Eyre' then why not take a look at Jane Austen quotes, or classic literature quotes.

Main image credit: Doodeez / Shutterstock.com

Article image credit: Jelena990 / Shutterstock.com