Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelleywas an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth30 August 1797
closed crushed event existence hopes impulse necessity obey pleasure scene scenes seems though urges
The scene of my existence is closed & though there be no pleasure in retracing the scenes that have preceded the event which has crushed my hopes yet there seems to be a necessity in doing so, and I obey the impulse that urges me.
care child english-author improve join pilgrimage render shall soon weary worthy
I shall live to improve myself, to take care of my child and to render myself worthy to join him. Soon my weary pilgrimage will begin.
cannot firm hearts ice men shall steady stuff
Be men, or be more than men. Be steady to your purposes and firm as a rock. This ice is not made of such stuff as your hearts may be; it is mutable and cannot withstand you if you say that it shall not.
english-author men power wish
I do not wish them to have power over men, but over themselves.
fix mind point purpose soul steady
Nothing contributes so much to tranquilizing the mind as a steady purpose -- a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.
eye fix mind point purpose soul steady
Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye
cannot change endure heart love misery torture vice violence
My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine.
art ignorant pride thou thy
Man, I cried, "how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom!
attention example human justly knowledge men-and-women obedience obtain outward protection softness taught women
Women are told from their infancy, and taught by the example of their mothers, that a little knowledge of human weakness, justly termed cunning, softness of temper, outward obedience and a scrupulous attention to a puerile kind of propriety, will obtain for them the protection of man.
against almost anxiety breathed burnt candle collected creature dreary dull eye infuse lay life lifeless might motion nearly night november rain saw spark yellow
It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.
against burnt candle creature dull eye nearly open rain saw yellow
It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open . . .
call exercise farce result virtues virtuous whose
It is a farce to call any being virtuous whose virtues do not result from the exercise of it's own reason.
agreeable dreams english-author
My dreams were at once more fantastic and agreeable than my writings.
agony allowed extract feelings food incident misery occurred rage
The agony of my feelings allowed me no respite; no incident occurred from which my rage and misery could not extract its food . . .