Quotation from: Villette

Written by: Charlotte Bronte


"Courage, Lucy Snowe! With self-denial and economy now, and steady
exertion by-and-by, an object in life need not fail you. Venture not
to complain that such an object is too selfish, too limited, and lacks
interest; be content to labour for independence until you have proved,
by winning that prize, your right to look higher. But afterwards, is
there nothing more for me in life--no true home--nothing to be dearer
to me than myself, and by its paramount preciousness, to draw from me
better things than I care to culture for myself only? Nothing, at
whose feet I can willingly lay down the whole burden of human egotism,
and gloriously take up the nobler charge of labouring and living for
others? I suppose, Lucy Snowe, the orb of your life is not to be so
rounded: for you, the crescent-phase must suffice. Very good. I see a
huge mass of my fellow-creatures in no better circumstances. I see
that a great many men, and more women, hold their span of life on
conditions of denial and privation. I find no reason why I should be
of the few favoured. 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."

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Part of a series of experiments in web preservation under the direction of Michael L. Nelson, Ph.D.