“When the pulse begins to throb, the brain to think again, The soul to feel the flesh and the flesh to feel the chain.”

— Emily Brontë, "The Prisoner", sts. 12–14, October 1841

About Emily Brontë

1818 – 1848

English novelist and poet, author of 'Wuthering Heights' (1847).

“I've dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas.”

“Shall Earth no more inspire thee, Thou lonely dreamer now?”

“The night is darkening round me, The wild winds coldly blow; But a tyrant spell has bound me And I cannot, cannot go.”

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

“It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?”

“In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.”

“If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces.”

“That which makes the man no worse than he was makes his life no worse: it has no power to harm, without or within.”

“Always take the short cut; and that is the rational one. Therefore say and do everything according to soundest reason.”