Cheerfulness, it would appear, is a matter which depends fully as much on the state of things within, as on the state of things without and around us.
Charlotte BronteNow it is not everybody, even amongst our respected friends and esteemed acquaintance, whom we like to have near us, whom we like to watch us, to wait on us, to approach us with the proximity of a nurse to a patient. It is not every friend whose eye is a light in a sickroom, whose presence is there a solace.
Charlotte BronteYou — you strange — you almost unearthly thing! — I love as my own flesh. You — poor and obscure, and small and plain as you are — I entreat to accept me as a husband.
Charlotte BronteThat to begin with; let respect be the foundation, affection the first floor, love the superstructure.
Charlotte Bronte