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
armies army-and-navy consist contain influence men resolute robust seldom standing strong vigorous
Standing armies can never consist of resolute robust men; they may be well-disciplined machines, but they will seldom contain men under the influence of strong passions, or with very vigorous faculties.
english-author men power wish
I do not wish them to have power over men, but over themselves.
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.
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.
appearance bright elevated enchanting future gilded hope past present rays spirits
My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy.
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 . . .
account accuse appear averse bringing confined connection english-author former forward hardly personal topics
I am very averse to bringing myself forward in print, but as my account will only appear as an appendage to a former production, and as it will be confined to such topics as have connection with my authorship alone, I can hardly accuse myself of a personal intrusion.
english-author
Teach him to think for himself? Oh, my God, teach him rather to think like other people!
describe haunted terrified terrify
What terrified me will terrify others; and I need only describe the spectre which had haunted my midnight pillow.
fix mind point steady
Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose - a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.
bolt cease entered exhibit felt miserable others shall soon spectacle survive wrecked
But I am a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul; and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit what I shall soon cease to be - a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, pitiable to others and intolerable to myself.
consist humbly
Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos.
english-author life obstinate
Life is obstinate and clings closest where it is most hated.