Quotes from Mary Shelley

He chose for his hero a youth nourished in dreams of liberty, some of whose actions are in direct opposition to the opinions of the world, but who is animated throughout by an ardent love of virtue, and a resolution to confer the boons of political and intellectual freedom on his fellow-creatures. On Percy Shelley's The Revolt of Islam

Happy, happy earth! Fit habitation for gods, which, so short a time before, was bleak, damp, and unwholesome. My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy.

Dark-eyed, dark-haired, with smiles of enchanting archness and a step like a fawn—

Quien no haya experimentado la seducción que la ciencia ejerce sobre una persona, jamás comprenderá su tiranía.

Cuántas cosas podríamos conocer si la cobardía y la pereza no entorpecieran nuestra curiosidad!

His landlady came to the door, loosely wrapped in dressing gown and shawl; her husband followed ejaculating.

How unwise had the wanderers been, who had deserted its shelter, entangled themselves in the web of society, and entered on what men of the world called life, - that labyrinth of evil, that scheme of mutual torture. To live, according to this sense of the word, we must not only observe and learn, we must also feel; we must not only be mere spectators of action, we must act; we must not describe, but be subjects of description.

Yapt??? her ÅŸey onun arzular?n? yerine getirmeye ve rahat?n? saÄŸlamaya yönelikti. Bir bahç?van?n nadide bir egzotik bitkiyi sert rüzgarlardan sak?nd??? gibi annemi sak?nabilmek ve onun uysal, iyiliksever zihninde keyifli duygular uyand?racak ÅŸeylerle etraf?n? kuÅŸatabilmek için ç?rp?n?p dururdu.

He [Shelley] told me that he had had many visions lately; he had seen the figure of himself, which met him as he walked on the terrace and said to him, 'How long do you mean to be content?

perhaps the component parts of a creature might be manufactured, brought together, and endued with vital warmth.

We will be monsters, alone in the world, but we will have each other.

Créeme, Frankenstein: yo era bondadoso. La humanidad y el amor de mi alma iluminaban todo mi ser, pero ¿acaso no estoy ahora solo, miserablemente solo??

Wayward human nature will rebel against mental sloth. We must act, suffer, or enjoy; or the worst of all torments is ours - such restless agony as old poets figured as befalling a living soul imprisoned in the bark of a tree. We are not born to be cabbages.

So much does suffering blunt even the coarsest sensations of men

porque nada contribuye tanto a tranquilizar la mente como un firme propósito, un punto en que el alma pueda fijar su mira intelectual

I am an outcast from human society; my name is execrated by all who understand its entire import--by those very beings whose happiness I ardently desire.

Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind, when it has once seized on it, like a lichen on the rock. I wished sometimes to shake off all thought and feeling; but I learned that there was but one means to overcome the sensation of pain, and that was death — a state which I feared yet did not understand. I admired virtue and good feelings, and loved the gentle manners and amiable qualities of my cottagers; but

Yes, she thought, nature is the refuge and home for women: they have no public career—no aim nor end beyond their domestic circle; but they can extend that, and make all the creations of nature their own, to foster and do good to.

I read my books with diligence, and mounting skill, and gathering certainty. I read the way a person might swim, to save his or her life. I wrote that way too.

Aunque sea sólo un cúmulo de infelicidad, la vida me es querida y la defenderé.

Surely once in a life God will grant the earnest entreaty of a loving heart.

Those moral laws on which all human excellence is founded—a love of truth in ourselves, and a sincere sympathy with our fellow-creatures.

She wondered at her previous blindness; it was as if she had closed her eyelids, and then fancied it was night. No fear that she should return to darkness; her heart felt so light, her spirit so clear and animated, that she could only wonder how it was she had missed happiness so long, when it needed only that she should stretch out her hand to take it.

She saw and marked the revolutions that had been, and the present seemed to her only a point of rest, from which time was to renew his flight.