Only a few authors possess the skill to be so expressive, eloquent, and at the same time calm when weighing into difficult topics and aspects of society. Charlotte Brontë was one of them. Thankfully, her best quotes – on and off the books – are preserved and are still enlightening us since more than a century ago.
An Admiration for Nature
The idea of seeing the sea – of being near it – watching its changes by sunrise, sunset, moonlight, and noonday – in calm, perhaps in a storm – fills and satisfies my mind.
This quote shows the degree of Charlotte Brontë’s admiration of the beauty of nature and the tranquility of her natural surroundings. Raised on the tenets of Christianity, Charlotte Brontë upbringing was one that also taught her to love God and have great respect for nature because nature and natural things are the wonders of God’s creation and so, in many ways, reflect his presence and existence.
With this quote, there’s an undercurrent attachment per Charlotte Brontë intention, and this goes to show that in life, there will be rough times and difficult moments as there will also be good and happy times, and for Charlotte Brontë, all these properties were the due process of life, and she would rest in the knowledge of a divine, greater being who always stayed in control over things.
All Things Have Their Purpose
The shadows are as important as the light.
By publishing several works – including her bestseller under a fake name, there’s arguably no better person who knows about being in the shadows enough to talk about it than Charlotte Brontë. Based on a widespread negative stereotype against women writers of her time, the author adopted the male given name Currer Bell and went by it to publish an anthology with her sisters – Emily and Anne, followed by her masterwork ‘Jane Eyre’ and a few others like ‘Shirley.’
Charlotte knew firsthand what it meant to be in the shadows and made to feel less important or less desirable than a certain select few, for example, how she and other women writers like her were relegated to the background, and their works tagged less relevant than their male counterparts. For this reason, this important quote by Charlotte Brontë comes in the form of an activization for society to give more relevance to things that were overlooked because she thought they were also as important as the more significant ones.
The Vanity of Unforgiving
Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs.
Charlotte Brontë used this statement to validate her aversion to malicious and acrimonious thoughts. She believed that life is much more fun and happier for anyone if they concentrated more on having a free spirit and a heart that forgave wrongs rather than one that registered and recounted them.
To Charlotte, such a heart was not only a potential danger to others but also a threat to the person carrying them, as it sapped them of all joys and enjoyment of emotional life. So, above all, this Charlotte Brontë’s quote reminds readers that it’s much more worth their while to live with an open, forgiving heart than it can ever be holding a grudge or counting the wrongs of others.
The Benefits of Lowering One’s Expectations
Life is so constructed, that the event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation.
Understanding this Charlotte Brontë’s quote and applying them to one’s life guarantees one some level of self-happiness and self-contentment. Often people set so high an expectation for themselves that than is possible to achieve, and then end up with self-blaming and depression.
Charlotte Brontë was an advocate for people setting big dreams and life’s expectations – after all, if she wasn’t an ambitious woman, she would have given in to the pressures and discouragement from friends, family, and society, but she didn’t. Her message for younger generations with this quote, however, is that people should have big dreams and ambitions but should keep in mind they may not all play out, yet, even so, one should try to be happy and content with how far they’ve come.
FAQs
How good a writer was Charlotte Brontë?
During her best years, Charlotte Brontë was unbelievably good, so much so that she won people’s hearts with her bold creativity in ‘Jane Eyre.’ This was a big deal for a woman because, in her days, it was nearly impossible for society to value a lady’s work.
Between Charlotte and Emily Brontë, who was the better writer?
Both sisters were natural as well as prolific in creative writing, however, while Emily was famous for being a better poet, Charlotte was considered a superior prose writer.
What is Charlotte Brontë most renowned for?
Charlotte Brontë was the oldest of the three talented Brontë sisters, and even though she’d had several important contributions to literature, ‘Jane Eyre’ is by far regarded as her best work.
