Quotes from Mary Shelley

I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on

I do not know what the custom of the English may be, but it is the custom of the Irish to hate villains

Besides, in drawing the picture of my early days, I also record those events which led, by insensible steps, to my after tale of misery, for when I would account to myself for the birth of that passion which afterwards ruled my destiny I find it arise, like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys. Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate;

Her health, and even the tranquillity of her hitherto constant spirit, had been shaken by what she had gone through.

I ardently desired the acquisition of knowledge. I had often, when at home, thought it hard to remain during my youth cooped up in one place, and had longed to enter the world, and take my station among other human beings. Now my desires were compiled with, and it would, indeed, have been folly to repent.

I wish to soothe him; yet can I counsel one so infinitely miserable, so destitute of every hope of consolation, to live?

I intreat you: leave me to peace and solitude for a short time, and when I return, I hope it will be with a lighter heart, more congenial to your own temper.

will revenge my injuries; if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly towards you my arch-enemy, because my creator, do I swear

The immense mountains and precipices that overhung me on every side, the sound of the river raging among the rocks, and the dashing of the waterfalls around spoke of a power mighty as Omnipotence—and I ceased to fear or to bend before any being less almighty than that which had created and ruled the elements, here displayed in their most terrific guise.

and I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to become the most wretched of human beings.

After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.

What I wrote was intended at least for one other eye - my childhood's companion and friend; but my dreams were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my refuge when annoyed - my dearest when pleasure when free.

Ma viene poi il momento in cui il dolore, più che una necessità, è un lusso, e il sorriso che gioca sulle labbra non viene bandito, anche se può essere considerato sacrilego.

Heavy misfortunes have befallen us, but let us only cling closer to what remains and transfer our love for those whom we have lost to those who yet live. Our circle will be small but bound close by the ties of affection and mutual misfortune. And when time shall have softened your despair, new and dear objects of care will be born to replace those of whom we have been so cruelly deprived.

I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel

the void that presents itself to the soul

I shall quit your vessel on the ice-raft which brought me thither, and shall seek the most northern extremity of the globe; I shall collect my funeral pile, and consume to ashes this miserable frame, that its remains may afford no light to any curious and unhallowed wretch, who would create such another as I have been.

There was always scope for fear; so long as anything I loved remained behind.

Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful. I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom. Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict.

A sense of security, a feeling that a truce was established between the present hour and the irresistible, disastrous future imparted to me a kind of calm forgetfulness, of which the human mind is by its structure peculiarly susceptible.

A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquillity. I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule. If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind. If

Je souhaite ardemment que l'accomplissement de vos désirs ne devienne pas pour vous, comme ce, le fut pour moi, un poison venimeux.

Our house was the house of mourning.

What terrified me will terrify others; and I need only describe the spectre which had haunted my midnight pillow.