Anne Bronte Quotes

But he that dares not grasp the thorn Should never crave the rose.

A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine.

I love the silent hour of night, for blissful dreams may then arise, revealing to my charmed sight what may not bless my waking eyes.

And then, the unspeakable purity - and freshness of the air! There was just enough heat to enhance the value of the breeze, and just enough wind to keep the whole sea in motion, to make the waves come bounding to the shore, foaming and sparkling, as if wild with glee.

My soul is awakened, my spirit is soaring and carried aloft on the wings of the breeze.

Keep both heart and hand in your own possession, till you see good reason to part with them.

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.

His heart was like a sensitive plant, that opens for a moment in the sunshine, but curls up and shrinks into itself at the slightest touch of the finger, or the lightest breath of wind.

There are great books in this world and great worlds in books.

To regret the exchange of earthly pleasures for the joys of Heaven, is as if the grovelling caterpillar should lament that it must one day quit the nibbled leaf to soar aloft and flutter through the air, roving at will from flower to flower, sipping sweet honey from their cups, or basking in their sunny petals.

I would not send a poor girl into the world, ignorant of the snares that beset her path; nor would I watch and guard her, till, deprived of self-respect and self-reliance, she lost the power or the will to watch and guard herself .

She left me, offended at my want of sympathy, and thinking, no doubt, that I envied her. I did not - at least, I firmly believed I did not.

Farewell to Thee! But not farewell To all my fondest thoughts of Thee;

Within my heart they still shall dwell And they shall cheer and comfort me.

A man must have something to grumble about;

and if he cant complain that his wife harries him to death with her perversity and ill-humour, he must complain that she wears him out with her kindness and gentleness.

Adieu! but let me cherish, still, The hope with which I cannot part.

Contempt may wound, and coldness chill, But still it lingers in my heart. And who can tell but Heaven, at last, May answer all my thousand prayers, And bid the future pay the past With joy for anguish, smiles for tears?

There is always a but in this imperfect world.

In love affairs, there is no mediator like a merry, simple-hearted child - ever ready to cement divided hearts, to span the unfriendly gulf of custom, to melt the ice of cold reserve, and overthrow the separating walls of dread formality and pride.

It is foolish to wish for beauty. Sensible people never either desire it for themselves or care about it in others. If the mind be but well cultivated, and the heart well disposed, no one ever cares for the exterior.

No; for instead of delivering myself up to the full enjoyment of the as others do, I am always troubling my head about how I could produce the same effect upon canvas; and as that can never be done, it is mere vanity and vexation of spirit.

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, shriveled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut.

But, God knows best, I concluded.

Are you hero enough to unite yourself to one whom you know to be suspected and despised by all around you, and identify your interests and your honor with hers?

It is painful to doubt the sincerity of those we love.

The ties that bind us to life are tougher than you imagine, or than any one can who has not felt how roughly they may be pulled without breaking.

Then, you must fall each into your proper place.

You'll do your business, and she, if she's worthy of you, will do hers; but it's your business to please yourself, and hers to please you.

The brightest attractions to the lover too often prove the husband's greatest torments

It is better to arm and strengthen your hero, than to disarm and enfeeble your foe.

Preserve me from such cordiality! It is like handling briar-roses and may-blossoms - bright enough to the eye, and outwardly soft to the touch, but you know there are thorns beneath, and every now and then you feel them too; and perhaps resent the injury by crushing them in till you have destroyed their power, though somewhat to the detriment of your own fingers.

I still preserve those relics of past sufferings and experience, like pillars of witness set up in travelling through the valve of life, to mark particular occurrences. The footsteps are obliterated now; the face of the country may be changed; but the pillar is still there, to remind me how all things were when it was reared.

He had not breathed a word of love, or dropped one hint of tenderness or affection, and yet I had been supremely happy. To be near him, to hear him talk as he did talk, and to feel that he thought me worthy to be so spoken to - capable of understanding and duly appreciating such discourse - was enough.

It is a hard, embittering thing to have one's kind feelings and good intentions cast back in one's teeth.

When a lady condescends to apologise, there is no keeping one’s anger.

Thank heaven, I am free and safe at last!

Forgetfulness is not to be purchased with a wish;

and I cannot bestow my esteem on all who desire it, unless they deserve it too.

I possess the faculty of enjoying the company of those I - of my friends as well in silence as in conversation.

I would rather have your friendship than the love of any other woman in the world.

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 wished to tell the truth, for truth always conveys its own moral to those who are able to receive it.

Reading is my favourite occupation, when I have leisure for it and books to read.

And why should he interest himself at all in my moral and intellectual capacities: what is it to him what I think and feel?' I asked myself. And my heart throbbed in answer to the question.

There is such a thing as looking through a person's eyes into the heart, and learning more of the height, and breadth, and depth of another's soul in one hour than it might take you a lifetime to discover, if he or she were not disposed to reveal it, or if you had not the sense to understand it.

What business had I to think so much of one that never thought of me?

The end of Religion is not to teach us how to die, but how to live.

No generous mind delights to oppress the weak, but rather to cherish and protect.

How odd it is that we so often weep for each other's distresses, when we shed not a tear for our own!

I cannot love a man who cannot protect me.

I began this book with the intention of concealing nothing, that those who liked might have the benefit of perusing a fellow creature's heart: but we have some thoughts that all the angels in heaven are welcome to behold -- but not our brother-men -- not even the best and kindest amongst them.

I was not really angry: I felt for him all the time, and longed to be reconciled; but I determined he should make the first advances, or at least show some signs of an humble and contrite spirit, first; for, if I began, it would only minister to his self-conceit, increase his arrogance, and quite destroy the lesson I wanted to give him.

If we can only speak to slander our betters, let us hold our tongues.