The trouble is not that I am single and likely to stay single, but that I am lonely and likely to stay lonely.

Mr. Rochester, if ever I did a good deed in my life — if ever I thought a good thought—if ever I prayed a sincere and blameless prayer — if ever I wished a righteous wish — I am rewarded now. To be your wife is, for me, to be as happy as I can be on earth.

Strange that grief should now almost choke me, because another human being's eye has failed to greet mine.

Intelligence and proper education will give you independence of spirit.

When you are inquisitive, Jane, you always make me smile. You open your eyes like an eager bird, and make every now and then a restless movement, as if answers in speech did not flow fast enough for you, and you wanted to read the tablet of one's heart.

Tact, if it be genuine, never sleeps.

No severe or prolonged bodily illness followed this incident of the red-room: it only gave my nerves a shock, of which I feel the reverberation to this day.