Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” Quotes (77 Quotes)

I also became a poet, and for one year lived in a Paradise of my own creation; I imagined that I also might obtain a niche in the temple where the names of Homer and Shakespeare are consecrated.

In other studies you go as far as other have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder.

Polluted by crimes, and torn by the bitterest remorse, where can I find rest but in death?

Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous, and magnificent, yet so viscious and base? He appeared at one time a mere scion of evil principle and at another as all that can be conceived as noble and godlike.

I contempleted the lake; the waters were placid, all around was calm and the snowy mountains... the calm and heavenly scene restored me and I continued my journey toward Geneva.

It is well. I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding-night.

Satan has his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and detested.

We cannot without depraving our minds endeavour to please a lover or husband but in proportion as he pleases us.

I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine... gentle yet corageous, possesed, as a cultivated as well as a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my own to aprove or amend my plans.

It is with considerable difficulty that I remember the original era of my being...

She was no longer that happy creature who in earlier youth wandered with me on the banks of the lake and talked with ecstasy of our future prospects. The first of those sorrows which are sent to wean us from the earth had visited her, and its dimming influence quenched her dearest smiles.

What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?

I do not ever remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition or to have feared the apparition of a spirit. Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, and a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm.

It may...be judged indecent in me to come forward on this occasion; 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.

So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein--more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.

When happy, inanimate nature had the power of bestowing on me the most delightful sensations.

Do I not deserve an acomplish of some great purpose? ... I prefer glory to every enticement than wealth placed in my path.

Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures.

Even where the affections are not strongly moved by any superior excellence, the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later friend can obtain. They know our infantine dispositions, which, however they may be afterwards modified, are never eradicated; and they can judge of our actions with more certain conclusions as to the integrity of our motives.

A mind of moderate capacity which closely pursues one study must infallibly arrive at great proficiency in that study.

A miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, pitiable to others and intolerable to myself.

Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?

Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.

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.

But soon, I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct.

Continue for the present to write to me by every opportunity: I may receive your letters on some occasions when I need them most to support my spirits.

Devil, do you dare approach me? and do you not fear the fierce vengeance of my arm wreaked on your miserable head?