Quotes from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

For whilst 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.

Ninguno de nosotros gozaba de predilección alguna sobre los demás, y nunca se escucharon en casa órdenes autoritarias, pero nuestro cariño mutuo nos empujaba a obedecer y a satisfacer hasta el más mínimo deseo de los demás.

These tales excited in us a playful desire of imitation.

Mi atención se centró en todos aquellos detalles que resultan insoportablemente repugnantes a la delicadeza de los sentimientos humanos

You hate me; but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself

read and re-read her letter an some softened feelings stole into my heart and dared to whisper paradisical dreams of love and joy; 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.

from the midst of this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me – a light so brilliant and wondrous, yet so simple, that while I became dizzy with the immensity of the prospect which it illustrated, I was surprised that among so many men of genius, who had directed their inquiries towards the same science, that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret.

i que és molt més feliç aquell home per al qual el poble natal és el món sencer que no pas aquell que vol esdevenir més gran del que la seva natura li permet.

But he found that a traveller's life is one that includes much pain amidst its enjoyments. His feelings are for ever on the stretch; and when he begins to sink into repose, he finds himself obliged to quit that on which he rests in pleasure for something new, which again engages his attention, and which also he forsakes for other novelties.

Why did I not die? More miserable than man ever was before, why did I not sink into forgetfulness and rest? Death snatches away many blooming children, the only hopes of their doating parents: how many brides and youthful lovers have been one day in the bloom of health and hope, and the next a prey for worms and the decay of the tomb! Of what materials was I made, that I could thus resist so many shocks, which, like the turning of the wheel, continually renewed the torture.

There was none among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies? No; from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and more than all, against him who had formed me and sent me forth to this insupportable misery.

Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy and I shall again be virtuous.

Debes crear una mujer para mí, una persona con la cual pueda vivir intercambiando las simpatías necesarias para mi ser. Sólo tú puedes hacerlo; y te lo reclamo como un derecho que no puedes rehusarme.

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.

but is it not a duty to the survivors, that we should refrain from augmenting their unhappiness by an appearance of immoderate grief? It is also a duty owed to yourself; for excessive sorrow prevents improvement or enjoyment, or even the discharge of daily usefulness, without which no man is fit for society.

This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. Inspirited by this wind of promise, my day dreams become more fervent and vivid. I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is for ever visible; its broad disk just skirting the horizon, and diffusing a perpetual splendour

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.

but when I see a fellow creature about to perish through the cowardice of her pretended friends, I wish to be allowed to speak, that I may say what I know of her character

La vida es obstinada... se aferra con más fuerza allí donde más se odia.

You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do, and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede.

tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man.

how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.

Learn from me, dear lady, to submit in patience to the will of heaven!

El afecto que este huésped suscita en mí aumenta diariamente. Excita simultáneamente mi admiración y mi compasión en medida asombrosa, ¡Cómo puedo ver una criatura tan noble destruida por el sufrimiento, sin experimentar el dolor más acerbo! Es tan bondadoso, y al mismo tiempo tan sensato; su mente está tan cultivada; y cuando habla, aunque sus palabras están elegidas con el arte más refinado, fluyen con rapidez y elocuencia sin igual.