Quotes from Mary Shelley

What were rain and storm to me?

When we visited it the next morning, we found the tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed.

A selfish pursuit had cramped and narrowed me, until your gentleness and affection warmed and opened my senses; I became the same happy creature who, a few years ago, loved and beloved by all, had no sorrow or care.

Come on, my enemy; we have yet to wrestle for our lives; but many hard and miserable hours must you endure until that period shall arrive.

sorrow only increased with knowledge

Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere

And I call on you, spirits of the dead, and on you, wandering ministers of vengeance, to aid and conduct me in my work. Let

It is well that you come here to whine over the desolation that you have made. You throw a torch into a pile of buildings, and when they are consumed you sit among the ruins, and lament the fall.

Be a man, or be more than a man.

noble and godlike in ruin!

the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later friend can obtain

I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit

Prepare to hear of occurrences which are usually deemed marvellous.

There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand. I am practically industrious - pain-staking; - a workman to execute with perseverance and labour: - but besides this, there is a love for the marvellous, a belief in the marvellous, intertwined in all my projects, which hurries me out of the common pathways of men, even to the wild sea and unvisited regions I am about to explore.

I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.

For while I destroyed his hopes, I did not satisfy my own desires. They were for ever ardent and craving; still I desired love and fellowship, and I was still spurned. Was there no injustice in this? Am I to be thought the only criminal when all human kind sinned against me?

I, although I abhorred society, wished to view again mountains and streams, and all the wondrous works with which Nature adorns her chosen dwelling-places.

There are some beings, whom fate seems to select on whom to pour, in unmeasured portion, the vials of her wrath, and whom she bathes even to the lips in misery.

I have longed for a friend; I have sought one who would sympathize with and love me.

No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks

My mother was dead, but we had still duties which we ought to perform; we must continue our course with the rest and learn to think ourselves fortunate whilst one remains whom the spoiler has not seized.

Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge

Man, I cried, how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom! Cease; you know not what it is you say.

Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change. The