Quotes from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Qué mudables son nuestros sentimientos, y cuán extraño es ese apego tenaz que tenemos a la vida incluso cuando estamos sufriendo horriblemente! Preparé otra vela con parte de mi indumentaria

It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things, or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or, in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world.

For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. 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.

I, like the arch-fiend, bore a hell within me, and finding myself unsympathized with, wished to tear up the trees, spread havoc and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and enjoyed the ruin.

Qué mudables son nuestros sentimientos, y cuán extraño es ese apego tenaz que tenemos a la vida incluso cuando estamos sufriendo horriblemente!

for to me the walls of a dungeon or a palace were alike hateful. The cup of life was poisoned for ever; and

Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed

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.

I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.

Escúchame, Frankenstein. Me acusas de asesinato; y sin embargo destruirías, con la conciencia tranquila, a tu propia criatura. ¡Loada sea la eterna justicia del hombre! Pero no pido que me perdones; escúchame y luego, si puedes, y si quieres, destruye la obra que creaste con tus propias manos.

And wherefore was it glorious? Not because the way was smooth and placid as a southern sea, but because it was full of dangers and terror, because at every new incident your fortitude was to be called forth and your courage exhibited, because danger and death surrounded it, and these you were to brave and overcome. For this was it a glorious, for this was it an honourable undertaking.

Oh! Be men, or be more than men. Be steady to your purposes and firm as a rock. This ice is not made of such stuff as your hearts may be; it is mutable and cannot withstand you if you say that it shall not. Do

We rest; a dream has power to poison sleep.    We rise; one wand'ring thought pollutes the day.

As for my father, his desires and exertions were bounded to the2 again seeing me restored to health and peace of mind.

A veces deseaba desterrar de mí todo pensamiento, todo afecto;

But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy; and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil. I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection.

men were encouraged to punish any woman they regarded as unruly. If a woman tried to escape from a cruel or violent husband, she was considered an outlaw, and her husband had the legal right to imprison her.

I feel pleasure in dwelling on the recollections of childhood, before misfortune had tainted my mind, and changed its bright visions of extensive usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections upon self.

I delighted in investigating the facts relative to the actual world; she busied herself in following the aerial creations of the poets. The world was to me a secret, which I desired to discover; to her it was a vacancy, which she sought to people with imaginations of her own.

Los acontecimientos que influyen decisivamente en nuestros destinos a menudo tienen su origen en sucesos triviales

Imparate da me, se non dai miei consigli, almeno dal mio esempio quanto sia pericolosa l'acquisizione della conoscenza e quanto è più felice quell'uomo che crede che la sua città natia sia il mondo, di colui che aspira a diventare più grande di quanto la sua natura gli permetta.

I am the assassin of those most innocent victims; they died by my machinations.

but the apple was already eaten, and the angel's arm bared to drive me from all hope. Yet I would die to make her happy. If the monster executed his threat, death was inevitable;

We returned again, with torches;