
70+ Emily Bronte Quotes to Inspire and Empower Your Life
Emily Bronte quotes are a treasure trove of wisdom and inspiration. The famous 19th-century novelist, known for her timeless classic Wuthering Heights, had a way with words that still resonate with readers today. Here are some of her most powerful and thought-provoking quotes.








44 Famous Emily Bronte Quotes on Love, Life, Despair, and Loss
- A person who has not done one half his day’s work by ten o clock runs a chance of leaving the other half undone.
- And I pray one prayer I repeat it till my tongue stiffens Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living! You said I killed you haunt me, then!… Be with me always take any form to drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss where I cannot find you!
- Any relic of the dead is precious if they were valued living.
- As different as a moonbeam from lightning or frost from fire.
- By this curious turn of disposition, I have gained the reputation of deliberate heartlessness; how undeserved, I alone can appreciate.
- Having leveled my palace, don’t erect a hovel and complacently admire your own charity in giving me that for a home.
- He had the hypocrisy to represent a mourner: and previous to following with Hareton, he lifted the unfortunate child on to the table and muttered, with peculiar gusto, ‘Now, my bonny lad, you are mine! And we’ll see if one tree won’t grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it!
- He wanted all to lie in an ecstasy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle and dance in a glorious jubilee. I said his heaven would be only half alive; and he said mine would be drunk: I said I should fall asleep in his; and he said he could not breathe in mine.
- He’s always, always in my mind — not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself — but as my own being.
- He’s more myself than I am.
- How cruel, your veins are full of icewater and mine are boiling.
- How strange! I thought though everybody hated and despised each other, they could not avoid loving me.
- Hush, my darling! Hush, hush, Catherine! I’ll stay. If he shot me so, I’d expire with a blessing on my lips.
- I ‘never told my love’ vocally; still, if looks have language, the merest idiot might have guessed I was over head and ears.
- I can say with sincerity that I like cats. A cat is an animal which has more human feelings than almost any other.
- I cannot express it: but surely you and everybody have a notion that there is, or should be, an existence of yours beyond you.
- I have to remind myself to breathe — almost to remind my heart to beat!
- I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth.
- I see heaven’s glories shine and faith shines equal.
- I shall smile when wreaths of snow blossom where the rose should grow.
- I’m not going to act the lady among you, for fear I should starve.
- I’m wearying to escape into that glorious world and to be always there: not seeing it dimly through tears and yearning for it through the walls of an aching heart: but really with it and in it.
- I’ll be as dirty as I please, and I like to be dirty, and I will be dirty!
- I’ll walk where my own nature would be leading:It vexes me to choose another guide: Where the grey flocks in ferny glens are feeding; Where the wild wind blows on the mountainside.
- If I could I would always work in silence and obscurity, and let my efforts be known by their results.
- If I had caused the cloud, it was my duty to make an effort to dispel it.
- If you ever looked at me once with what I know is in you, I would be your slave.
- It is astonishing how sociable I feel myself compared with him.
- It is hard to forgive, and to look at those eyes, and feel those wasted hands,’ he answered. ‘Kiss me again; and don’t let me see your eyes! I forgive what you have done to me. I love my murderer—but yours! How can I?
- It is strange people should be so greedy, when they are alone in the world.
- No coward soul is mine, No trembler in the world’s storm troubled sphere.
- Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves.
- The tyrant grinds down his slaves and they don’t turn against him, they crush those beneath them.
- The winter wind is loud and wild; come close to me, my darling child; Forsake thy books, and mate less play; And, while the night is gathering grey, We’ll talk its pensive hours away.
- They forgot everything the minute they were together again.
- Though earth and man were gone, And suns and universes ceased to be, And Thou wert left alone, Every existence would exist in Thee.
- Thoughts are tyrants that return again and again to torment us.
- Vain are the thousand creeds that move men’s hearts, unutterably vain; Worthless as withered weeds, Or idlest froth amid the boundless main.
- We must be for ourselves in the long run; the mild and generous are only more justly selfish than the domineering.
- Yes, as my swift days near their goal, ’tis all that I implore: In life and death a chainless soul, with courage to endure.
- You fight against that devil for love as long as you may, when the time comes, not all the angels in heaven shall save him.
- You know that I could as soon forget you as my existence!
- You must forgive me, for I struggled only for you.
- Your presence is a moral poison that would contaminate the most virtuous.
5 Emily Bronte Love Quotes
Here are some beautiful quotes on love by Emily Bronte:
- He shall never know I love him: and that, not because he’s handsome, but because he’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made out of, his and mine are the same.
- He’ll love and hate equally under cover, and esteem it as a species of impertinence to love or hate again.
- Human beings cannot live without love, as it is our true nature. Have you ever had your heart broken or thought of someone whose heart you have broken?
- I love the ground under his feet, and the air over his head, and everything he touches and every word he says. I love all his looks, and all his actions and him entirely and all together.
- If he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn’t love as much in eighty years as I could in a day.
5 Quotes from Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights
Here are a few notable quotes from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte:
- It was not the thorn bending to the honeysuckles but the honeysuckles embracing the thorn.
- I hate him for himself but despise him for the memories he revives.
- The entire world is a collection of memoranda that she did exist and that I have lost her.
- Time brought resignation and a melancholy sweeter than common joy.
- Treachery and violence are spears pointed at both ends; they wound those who resort to them worse than their enemies.
5 Inspirational Emily Bronte Quotes
Check these inspirational Emily Bronte quotes that will lift your spirits:
- A good heart will help you to a bonny face, my lad, and a bad one will turn the bonniest into something worse than ugly.
- And from the midst of cheerless gloom, I passed to a bright unclouded day.
- Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.
- Honest people don’t hide their deeds.
- I am now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it country or town. A sensible man ought to find sufficient company in himself.
4 Emily Bronte Quotes on Life
Here are some profound Emily Bronte quotes on life:
- I cannot live without my life. I cannot live without my soul.
- I have dreamt in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.
- You have been compelled to cultivate your reflective faculties for want of occasions for frittering your life away in silly trifles.
- You know, I’ve had a bitter, hard life since I last heard your voice and if I’ve survived, it’s all because of you.
4 Emily Bronte Quotes on Loss
These Emily Bronte quotes capture the essence of loss in various forms:
- Existence, after losing her, would be hell.
- I have fled my country and gone to the heather.
- I have not broken your heart you have broken it, and in breaking it, you have broken mine.
- You have left me so long to struggle against death, alone, that I feel and see only death! I feel like death!
7 Emily Bronte Quotes on Despair
Here are some Emily Bronte quotes on despair:
- I gave him my heart, and he took and pinched it to death; and flung it back to me. People feel with their hearts, Ellen, and since he has destroyed mine, I have no power to feel for him.
- I take so little interest in my daily life, that I hardly remember to eat and drink.
- If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.
- If I were in heaven, Nelly, I should be extremely miserable. Because you are not fit to go there, I answered. All sinners would be miserable in heaven.
- Oh, I’m burning! I wish I were out of doors! I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free… and laughing at injuries, not maddening under them! Why am I so changed?
- She burned too bright for this world.
- Terror made me cruel; and finding it useless to attempt shaking the creature off, I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes.
2 Emily Bronte Quotes on Friendship
These are a couple of Emily Bronte quotes on friendship that depict the bitter-sweet nature of friendships:
- You’re hard to please: so many friends and so few cares, and can’t make yourself content.
- Love is like the wild rose briar; friendship like the holly tree. The holly is dark when the rose briar blooms, but which will bloom most constantly?
FAQ
Who Is Emily Bronte?
Emily Jane Bronte was an English novelist and poet who gained widespread acclaim for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, which is now considered a classic of English literature.
When Is Emily Bronte’s Birthday?
Emily Bronte was born on July 30, 1818.
How Old Was Emily Bronte When She Died?
Emily Bronte died at the age of 30.
Did Emily Bronte Have a Child?
No, Emily Bronte never had children.
What Is Emily Bronte Known For?
Emily Bronte is primarily recognized for her novel Wuthering Heights and for her poetry, which her sister Charlotte Bronte described as having an unconventional and evocative melody.
What Is Emily Bronte’s Most Famous Poem?
Emily Bronte’s most famous poem is “The Prisoner.”
What Inspired Emily Bronte to Write?
Emily Bronte’s environment and experiences influenced her writing. She had no close friends, was interested in mysticism, and enjoyed spending time alone outdoors.
What Inspired Emily Bronte to Write Wuthering Heights?
High Sunderland Hall, where Emily Bronte worked as a governess, is thought to have inspired the setting for Wuthering Heights. The hall was full of elaborate and grotesque statues similar to those described in the novel.
Is Wuthering Heights Based on a True Story?
Wuthering Heights is a fictional story and is classified as either a gothic fiction or gothic tragedy, featuring elements of horror and mystery.
How Long Did It Take To Write Wuthering Heights?
Emily Bronte composed Wuthering Heights within a span of nine months, and it was released in 1847 under the pen name Ellis Bell. Tragically, Emily Bronte passed away the following year.