Jane Eyre is a classic novel that has a special place in my heart and there are so many Jane Eyre quotes I love.

  I remember not liking the story as much as a child, but I had only seen film adaptions so I didn’t really KNOW Jane. I think it was too dark for me since I was used to Jane Austen’s more upbeat happy stories. But as a teen, I got into the mood for the dark coming of age novels and eventually read Jane Eyre. I immediately fell in love with the story because I loved getting to know Jane and Charlotte Bronte’s writing style was so beautiful. These eight Jane Eyre quotes are ones that touch my soul.

*Warning: BIG spoilers ahead!*

Quote #1) 

Do you think I am an automaton? — a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! — I have as much soul as you — and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh: it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet, equal — as we are!- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

  I love Jane in this scene. She believed she was about to lose Rochester since she thought he got engaged to someone else and was being sent away from the only place she ever felt truly happy.

  She was tired of him playing with her feelings the way he did which leads she her finally saying what was on her mind in this iconic impassioned speech. Jane loves Rochester but also wants to be treated and looked upon as an equal. I love this about her character. For the time period, this book was set and written in, it was very ahead of its time.

Quote #2)

I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

  One of the most popular Jane Eyre quotes! Jane is expressing that she is an individual with her own opinions and is not someone who just conforms to societal norms. And this is why I think Jane Eyre is iconic and amazing. She lived in the victorian era when women expressing their own opinions weren’t conventional but she didn’t care and wanted to just be herself. It was very inspiring and I personally relate a lot to that aspect of her character which is partly why I love her so much.

Quote #3)

Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

  Now this is a quote towards to beginning of the novel by Helen Burns. Helen was a fellow orphan like Jane, who she met as a kid at Lowood School and became her best friend. Helen Burns was such a sweetheart who was patient and positive despite being treated harshly in Lowood School. She helped Jane a lot in her youth by showing her kindness and teaching her humility. 

  This quote is one of my favorites because it’s basically the victorian era version of YOLO. It is a good reminder to not waste time in our life focused on negativity and holding grudges but instead to focus on the positive especially in difficult times.

Quote #4)

I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected; and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously revived, great and strong! He made me love him without looking at me.- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

  Since Jane Eyre is written in first person, we really get to know Jane as an individual by the end. But what I really love about Charlotte Bronte’s writing style is that there are moments throughout where the “reader” is spoken to directly or mentioned. This quote is one of them but I like this one a lot because this is at the point of the novel where Jane is trying hard to fight her feelings for Rochester but can’t win.

  That specific moment was very real and vulnerably honest making me feel like I had a personal private conversation with Jane herself. Not many books can make me feel that way which shows how truly beautiful Charlotte Bronte’s writing style is.

Quote #5)

There is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort.- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

  I think is not only a very relatable quote but also highlights Jane Eyre’s character. Being loved, wanted, and needed is her true desire and what truly makes her happy. Jane Eyre had an abusive childhood feeling unloved and unwanted, so when Jane finally finds people who truly care about her she is truly content in life.

Quote #6)

Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation:they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour … If at my convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

  This is defiantly one of my favorite book quotes of all time. This was a quote that made me have to stop and reflect because it was so well written. 

  Jane was in the middle of having a difficult decision to make.  Whether to stay with Rochester even though he was still legally married or leave the man whom she loves and knows loves her deeply which is something she’s always wanted. This is the moment she shows true inner strength by deciding to stand up for her own convictions and not demean herself. Choosing the right but hard choice always shows great strength in character.

  I loved this part of the story because this moment is when she asserted her strong sense of moral integrity even when her feelings and love for Rochester were against it. I loved how she thought about how if she would break her convictions for temptation then “what would be their worth?” This was where I was like “Wow this book is amazing!” And proceeded to try to get everyone I knew to read this book. 

Quote #7)

Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear. Your mind is my treasure, and if it were broken, it would be my treasure still: if you raved, my arms should confine you, and not a strait waistcoat–your grasp, even in fury, would have a charm for me: if you flew at me as wildly as that woman did this morning, I should receive you in an embrace, at least as fond as it would be restrictive. I should not shrink from you with disgust as I did from her: in your quiet moments you should have no watcher and no nurse but me; and I could hang over you with untiring tenderness, though you gave me no smile in return; and never weary of gazing into your eyes, though they had no longer a ray of recognition for me.- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

  Sigh, now is this a quote where I think was the only moment Rochester was truly romantic.

  When he is basically begging Jane Eyre to stay with him and he explains that he loves her so deeply that even if she suffered the same fate as his wife, he would still love her. This quote truly hit me because he basically said that if she lost her memory and went crazy, he would be by her side and care for her the whole time and never stop loving her. Which is very romantic and honestly made this part of the book hit me in the feels so much harder knowing Jane had to leave.

Quote #8)

I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitments, awaited those who had the courage to go forth into it’s expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst it’s perils.- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

  I remember really loving this quote the first time I read this book. Probably because at the time I recently graduated from high school and was trying to figure out what I really wanted in life.

  Going through that awkward transition from teen to adult is a very weird time and can be scary as well. So personally when I read this part, I truly felt like Jane understood what I was going through because she too had to be brave and venture out in the real world.  

  So those are some of my favorite Jane Eyre Quotes, what are yours? Let me know in the comments below.