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2f1efaf
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Arthur,' continued I, relaxing my hold of his arm, 'you don't love me half as much as I do you; and yet, if you loved me far less than you do, I would not complain, provided you loved your Maker more. I should rejoice to see you at any time so deeply absorbed in your devotions that you had not a single thought to spare for me. But, indeed, I should lose nothing by the change, for the more you loved your God the more deep and pure and true..
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Anne Brontë |
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d0dfdbc
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who had taken a violent fancy to me, mistaking me for something vastly better than I was.
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Anne Brontë |
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4cdbbe6
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I was infatuated once with a foolish, besotted affection, that clung to him in spite of his unworthiness, but it is fairly gone now--wholly crushed and withered away; and he has none but himself and his vices to thank for it.
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heartbreak
unworthiness
weakness
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Anne Brontë |
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c1c9e62
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I thought Mr. Millward never would cease telling us that he was no tea-drinker, and that it was highly injurious to keep loading the stomach with slops to the exclusion of more wholesome sustenance, and so give himself time to finish his fourth cup.
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tea
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Anne Brontë |
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8d4e1c1
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I have omitted to give a detail of his words, from a notion that they would not interest the reader as they did me, and not because I have forgotten them.
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Anne Brontë |
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d7cee98
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Though riches had charms, poverty had no terrors for an inexperienced girl like me. Indeed, to say the truth, there was something exhilarating in the idea of being driven to straits, and thrown upon our own resources. I only wished papa, mamma, and Mary were all of the same mind as myself; and then, instead of lamenting past calamities we might all cheerfully set to work to remedy them; and the greater the difficulties, the harder our prese..
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predicament
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Anne Brontë |
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1618ffc
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And if you think you have wronged me by giving me your friendship, and occasionally admitting me to the enjoyment of your company and conversation, when all hopes of closer intimacy were vain - as indeed you always gave me to understand - if you think you have wronged me by this, you are mistaken; for such favours, in themselves alone, are not only delightful to my heart, but purifying, exalting, ennobling to my soul; and I would have your ..
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Anne Brontë |
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e85da17
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God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
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Anne Brontë |
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9c3955e
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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.
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Anne Brontë |
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f137d7a
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Helen,' said she, after a thoughtful silence, 'do you ever think about marriage?' 'Yes, aunt, often.' 'And do you ever contemplate the possibility of being married yourself, or engaged, before the season is over?' 'Sometimes; but I don't think it at all likely that I ever shall.' 'Why so?' 'Because, I imagine, there must be only a very, very few men in the world that I should like to marry; and of those few, it is ten to one I may never be ..
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Anne Brontë |
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c3d8bf8
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Oh, I don't mind his being wicked: he's all the better for that; and as for disliking him--I shouldn't greatly object to being Lady Ashby of Ashby Park, if I must marry. But if I could be always young, I would be always single. I should like to enjoy myself thoroughly, and coquet with all the world, till I am on the verge of being called an old maid; and then, to escape the infamy of that, after having made ten thousand conquests, to break ..
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Anne Brontë |
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526ad12
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We often pity the poor, because they have no leisure to mourn their departed relatives, and necessity obliges them to labor through their severest afflictions: but is not active employment the best remedy for overwhelming sorrow--the surest antidote for despair? It may be a rough comforter: it may seem hard to be harassed with the cares of life when we have no relish for its enjoyments; to be goaded to labor when the heart is ready to break..
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family
mourning
work
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Anne Brontë |
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6567800
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You would have us encourage our sons to prove all things by their own experience, while our daughters must not even profit by the experience of others.
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Anne Brontë |
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c7b876e
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There was a certain graceful ease and freedom about all he said and did, that gave a sense of repose and expansion to the mind, after so much constraint and formality as I had been doomed to suffer.
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Anne Brontë |
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2a090a3
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What is it that constitutes virtue, Mrs. Graham? Is it the circumstance of being able and willing to resist temptation; or that of having no temptation to resist? Is he a strong man that overcomes great obstacles and performs surprising achievements, though by dint of great muscular exertion, and at the risk of some subsequent fatigue, or he that sits in his chair all day, with nothing to do more laborious than stirring the fire, and carryi..
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Anne Brontë |
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3c292e8
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Matrimony is a serious thing.
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Anne Brontë |
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8a3294d
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Well, to tell you the truth, I've thought of it often and often before, but he's such devilish good company is Huntingdon, after all - you can't imagine what a jovial good fellow he is when he's not fairly drunk, only just primed or half-seas-over - we all have a bit of a liking for him at the bottom of our hearts, though we can't respect him.' 'But should you wish yourself to be like him?' 'No, I'd rather be like myself, bad as I am.
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flaws
individuality
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Anne Brontë |
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a60392c
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If you would really study my pleasure, mother, you must consider your own comfort and convenience a little more than you do.
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convenience
mother
pleasure
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Anne Brontë |
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cebc608
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But still I was curious to know what sort of an explanation she would have given me--or would give now, if I pressed her for it--how much she would confess, and how she would endeavour to excuse herself. I longed to know what to despise, and what to admire in her; how much to pity, and how much to hate;--and, what was more, I would know. I would see her once more, and fairly satisfy myself in what light to regard her, before we parted. Lost..
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Anne Brontë |
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f5788cd
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Whatever was wrong, in either her or her brother, he would encourage by laughing at, if not by actually praising: people little know the injury they do to children by laughing at their faults, and making a pleasant jest of what their true friends have endeavoured to teach them to hold in grave abhorrence.
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Anne Brontë |
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471abf9
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There is perfect love in Heaven!
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love
perfection
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Anne Brontë |
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d5c86eb
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And if that illustration will not move you, here is another: -- We are children now; we feel as children, and we understand as children; and when we are told that men and women do not play with toys, and that our companions will one day weary on the trivial sports and occupations that interest them and us so deeply now, we cannot help being saddened at the thoughts of such an alteration, because we cannot conceive that as we grow up, our ow..
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Anne Brontë |
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d1efd3a
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She spoke of these with animation, and heard my admiring comments with a smile of pleasure: that soon, however, vanished, and was followed by a melancholy sigh; as if in consideration of the insufficiency of all such baubles to the happiness of the human heart, and their woeful inability to supply its insatiate demands.
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listening
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Anne Brontë |
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c880c6a
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By his [God's] help I will arise and address myself diligently to my appointed duty. If happiness in this world is not for me, I will endeavor to promote the welfare of those around me, and my reward shall be hereafter.
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duty-and-attitude
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Anne Brontë |
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62aaaf8
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That wish - that prayer - both men and women would have scorned me for - "But, Father, Thou wilt not despise!" I said, and felt that it was true."
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love
prayer
wish
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Anne Brontë |
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6459073
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A few cold words on yonder stone, A corpse as cold as they can be - Vain words, and mouldering dust, alone - Can this be all that's left of thee? O, no! thy spirit lingers still Where'er thy sunny smile was seen: There's less of darkness, less of chill On earth, than if thou hadst not been. Thou breathest in my bosom yet, And dwellest in my beating heart;
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loss
poetry
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Anne Brontë |
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4589bc9
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How odd it is that we so often weep for each other's distresses, when we shed not a tear for our own!
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friendship
mourning
sad
selflessness
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Anne Brontë |
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a920d7c
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When we are harassed by sorrows or anxieties, or long oppressed by any powerful feelings which we must keep to ourselves, for which we can obtain and seek no sympathy from any living creature, and which yet we cannot, or will not wholly crush, we often naturally seek relief in poetry-- and often find it, too-- whether in the effusions of others, which seem to harmonize with our existing case, or in our own attempts to give utterance to thos..
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Anne Brontë |
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dbc92e4
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I wished to tell the truth, for truth always conveys its own moral to those who are able to receive it. But as the priceless treasure too frequently hides at the bottom of a well, it needs some courage to dive for it, especially as he that does so will be likely to incur more scorn and obloquy for the mud and water into which he has ventured to plunge, than thanks for the jewel he procures...
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Anne Brontë |
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4e73586
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Already, I seemed to feel my intellect deteriorating, my heart petrifying, my soul contracting; and I trembled lest my very moral perceptions should become deadened, my distinctions of right and wrong confounded, and all my better faculties be sunk, at last, beneath the baneful influence of such a mode of life. The gross vapors of earth were gathering around me, and closing in upon my inward heaven; and thus it was that Mr. Weston rose at l..
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friendship
intelligence
love
relief
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Anne Brontë |
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19e3ca5
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if one civilized man were doomed to pass a dozen years amid a race of intractable savages, unless he had power to improve them, I greatly question whether, at close of that period, he would not have become, at least, a barbarian himself. And I, as I could not make my young companions better, feared exceedingly that they would make me worse- would gradually bring my feelings, habits, capacities, to the level of their own; without, however, i..
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Anne Brontë |
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4caccd5
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If a woman is fair and amiable, she is praised for both qualities, but especially the former, by the bulk of mankind: if, on the other hand, she is disagreeable in person and character, her plainness is commonly inveighed against as her greatest crime, because, to common observers, it gives the greatest offence; while, if she is plain and good, provided she is a person of retired manners and secluded life, no one ever knows of her goodness,..
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Anne Brontë |
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9c20a7e
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I flatter myself, at times, that though among them, I am not of them
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Anne Brontë |
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2ba9161
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The more happiness we bestow, the more we shall receive, even here; and the greater will be our reward in heaven when we rest from our labours." "
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Anne Brontë |
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165e845
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I may be permitted, like the doctors, to cure a greater evil by a less, for I shall not fall seriously in love with the young widow, I think, nor she with me - that's certain - but if I find a little pleasure in her society I may surely be allowed to seek it; and if the star of her divinity be bright enough to dim the lustre of Eliza's, so much the better, but I scarcely can think it
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falling-in-love
pleasure
society
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Anne Brontë |
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9c5df6c
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No, but still it is very unpleasant to live with such unimpressible, incomprehensible creatures. You cannot love them; and if you could, your love would be utterly thrown away: they could neither return it, nor value, nor understand it.
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love
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Anne Brontë |
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f2e1c5f
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Well, and what was there in that?--Who ever hung his hopes upon so frail a twig?
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hopelessness
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Anne Brontë |
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9c59823
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Severed and gone, so many years! And art thou still so dear to me,
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poetry
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Anne Brontë |
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51fac11
|
There is another life both for you and for me,' said I. 'If it be the will of God that we should sow in tears now, it is only that we may reap in joy hereafter. It is His will that we should not injure others by the gratification of our own earthly passions; and you have a mother, and sisters, and friends who would be seriously injured by your disgrace; and I, too, have friends, whose peace of mind shall never be sacrificed to my enjoyment,..
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god-s-will
honor
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Anne Brontë |
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a36e9d6
|
When we had surmounted the acclivity, I was about to withdraw my arm from his, but by a slight tightening of the elbow was tacitly informed that such was not his will, and accordingly desisted.
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Anne Brontë |
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5a65334
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I hate talking where there is no exchange of ideas or sentiments, and no good given or received
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Anne Brontë |
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fb293ce
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But this gives no proper idea of my feelings at all; and no one that has not lived such a retired stationary life as mine, can possibly imagine what they were: hardly even if he has known what it is to awake some morning, and find himself in Port Nelson, in New Zealand, with a world of waters between himself and all that knew him.
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loneliness
sad
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Anne Brontë |
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7844dde
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This rose is not so fragrant as a summer flower, but it has stood through hardships none of them could bear: the cold rain of winter has sufficed to nourish it, and its faint sun to warm it; the bleak winds have not blanched it, or broken its stem, and the keen frost has not blighted it... It is still fresh and blooming as a flower can be, with the cold snow even now on its petals.-- Will you have it?
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Anne Brontë |
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b06fdf2
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The rose I gave you was an emblem of my heart,' said she; 'would you take it away and leave me here alone?' 'Would you give me your hand too, if I asked it?' 'Have I not said enough?
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engagement
gift
hand
heart
love
rose
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Anne Brontë |