Quotes from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Frankenstein. You accuse me of murder, and yet you would, with a satisfied conscience, destroy your own creature.

became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.

A human being in perfection ought

My dear Frankenstein," exclaimed Henry, when he perceived me weep with bitterness, "are you always to be unhappy? My dear friend, what has happened?

Every thought that was devoted to it was an extreme anguish, and every word that I spoke in allusion to it caused my lips to quiver, and my heart to palpitate.

should leave my friends unconscious of the existence of their enemy, and unprotected from his attacks

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.

my present sensations strongly intimated that the fiend would follow me, and exempt my family from the danger of his machinations.

If I should be engaged, I will at least make notes.

Remember, I am not recording the vision of a madman. The sun does not more certainly shine in the heavens, than that which I now affirm is true. Some miracle might have produced it, yet the stages of the discovery were distinct and probable. 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.

could only think of the bourne5 of my travels, and the work which was to occupy me whilst they endured.

Like one who, on a lonely road, Doth walk in fear and dread, And, having once turned round, walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread. Continuing thus, I came at length opposite to the inn at which the various diligences and carriages usually stopped.

The ambition of the inquirer seemed to limit itself to the annihilation of those visions on which my interest in science was chiefly founded. I was required to exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur for realities of little worth.

Pero debemos vivir, no representar, nuestras vidas; siguiendo una sombra, perdí la realidad.

Tú eres mi creador, pero yo soy tu dueño: ¡obedece!

Wenn ich nicht Liebe einflößen kann, werde ich Furcht verbreiten, und vor allem dir, mein Erzfeind, weil mein Schöpfer, schwöre ich unauslöschlichen Hass.

Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.

No leía, como hacen muchos, meramente para pasar el rato, sino que seguía interrogándose a sí misma y al autor, modelando cada idea de mil maneras, deseosa de descubrir una verdad en cada frase.

You hate me; but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself. I look on the hands which executed the deed; I think on the heart in which the imagination of it was conceived, and long for the moment when they will meet my eyes, when it haunt my thoughts, no more.

new species would bless me as its creator and source, many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.

These reflections have dispelled the agitation with which I began my letter, and I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven; for nothing contributes so much to tranquillise the mind as a steady purpose -- a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.

Quién, si sabe lo que es la <>, perseguiría esas febriles modalidades de existencia? Yo he vivido. [...] Renunciemos a la <> para poder vivir.

I desire the company of a man who could sympathise with me; whose eyes would reply to mine.

Quién, si sabe lo que es la 'vida', perseguiría esas febriles modalidades de existencia? Yo he vivido. [...] Renunciemos a la 'vida' para poder vivir.