"I avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward."

Charlotte Brontë Literature See all quotes by Charlotte Brontë →

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“By dying young, I shall escape great sufferings. I had not qualities or talents to make my way very well in the world: I should have been continually at fault.”

“What animal magnetism drew thee and me together—I know not.”

“It seemed as if my tongue pronounced words without my will consenting to their utterance: something spoke out of me over which I had no control.”

“There is, in lovers, a certain infatuation of egotism; they will have a witness of their happiness, cost that witness what it may.”

“I believe in some blending of hope and sunshine sweetening the worst lots. I believe that this life is not all; neither the beginning nor the end. I believe while I tremble; I trust while I weep.”

“And then my mind made its first earnest effort to comprehend what had been infused into it concerning heaven and hell: and for the first it recoiled baffled; and for the first time glancing behind, on each side, and before it, it saw all round an unfathomed gulf: it felt the one point where it stood — the present; all the rest was formless cloud and vacant depth: and it shuddered at the thought of tottering, and plunging amid that chaos.”

Resonant Thoughts

"The results of a battle pained him as much as if he was receiving the wounds himself, for I have often heard him express himself in pained accents while talking over some of the scenes of the war; he …"

— David Dixon Porter

Military1813–1891

#war

"Especially in the military, hazing helps recruits amputate each other’s individuality because the war machine works best with standardized parts, not with people who say, “I’m special."

— Warren Farrell

Science1943

#war

"The effect of World War II is one point worth noting. Almost every victim of lynching since the war has been a veteran. The Negro community is probably more unified today, more politically vehement, m…"

— John Gunther

Journalism1901–1970

#war

"But let the world know also the greater bravery of the French statesmen in suing for peace. I have assumed that the French statesmen have taken the step in a perfectly honourable manner as behoves tru…"

— Mahatma Gandhi

Politics1869–1948

#war