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98 Best Mary Shelley Quotes

Famous As: British Author Best Known for Her Gothic Novel ‘Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus’
Born On: 1797
Died On: 1851
Born In: Somers Town, London, England
Died At Age: 53

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was a British novelist, essayist, short story writer, dramatist, travel writer and biographer known for her Gothic novel ‘Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus’. Despite the critics being skeptical about the storyline of the novel, it gained positive reviews after the mid 20th century with various theatrical adaptations. Major critics have appreciated the aesthetic and moral value of her work which has also been a subject of study for female criticism and psychoanalytic behavior. Mary also edited the works of her poet and philosopher husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her theme of writing generated dark introspection of human mind and its ways. We have curated some of Shelley’s quotes from her novels, books, essays, short stories etc. Let’s take a look at Mary Shelley’s best quotes.

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Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.

Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.

Mary Shelley
Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.

Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.

Mary Shelley
No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.

No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.

Mary Shelley
Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.

Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.

Mary Shelley
If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear!

If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear!

Mary Shelley
How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to be greater than his nature will allow.

How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to be greater than his nature will allow.

Mary Shelley
The beginning is always today.

The beginning is always today.

Mary Shelley
I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel...

I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel...

Mary Shelley
Solitude was my only consolation - deep, dark, deathlike solitude.

Solitude was my only consolation - deep, dark, deathlike solitude.

Mary Shelley
There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand.

There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand.

Mary Shelley
The companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later friend can obtain.

The companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later friend can obtain.

Mary Shelley
Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos.

Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos.

Mary Shelley
Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose

Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose

Mary Shelley
Satan has his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and detested.

Satan has his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and detested.

Mary Shelley
The world to me was a secret, which I desired to discover; to her it was a vacancy, which she sought to people with imaginations of her own.

The world to me was a secret, which I desired to discover; to her it was a vacancy, which she sought to people with imaginations of her own.

Mary Shelley
When falsehood can look so like the truth, who can assure themselves of certain happiness?

When falsehood can look so like the truth, who can assure themselves of certain happiness?

Mary Shelley
There is love in me the likes of which you've never seen. There is rage in me the likes of which should never escape. If I am not satisfied int he one, I will indulge the other.

There is love in me the likes of which you've never seen. There is rage in me the likes of which should never escape. If I am not satisfied int he one, I will indulge the other.

Mary Shelley
Once I falsely hoped to meet the beings who, pardoning my outward form, would love me for the excellent qualities which I was capable of unfolding.

Once I falsely hoped to meet the beings who, pardoning my outward form, would love me for the excellent qualities which I was capable of unfolding.

Mary Shelley
Learn from my miseries, and do not seek to increase your own.

Learn from my miseries, and do not seek to increase your own.

Mary Shelley
The whole series of my life appeared to me as a dream; I sometimes doubted if indeed it were all true, for it never presented itself to my mind with the force of reality.

The whole series of my life appeared to me as a dream; I sometimes doubted if indeed it were all true, for it never presented itself to my mind with the force of reality.

Mary Shelley
How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that clinging love we have of life even in the excess of misery!

How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that clinging love we have of life even in the excess of misery!

Mary Shelley
With how many things are we on the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries.

With how many things are we on the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries.

Mary Shelley
Man,

Man," I cried, "how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom!

Mary Shelley
If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free; but now we are moved by every wind that blows and a chance word or scene that that word may convey to us.

If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free; but now we are moved by every wind that blows and a chance word or scene that that word may convey to us.

Mary Shelley
Listen to me, Frankenstein. You accuse me of murder; and yet you would, with a satisfied conscience, destroy your own creature. Oh, praise the eternal justice of man!

Listen to me, Frankenstein. You accuse me of murder; and yet you would, with a satisfied conscience, destroy your own creature. Oh, praise the eternal justice of man!

Mary Shelley
Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity and ruin.

Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity and ruin.

Mary Shelley
My dreams were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my refuge when annoyed - my dearest pleasure when free.

My dreams were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my refuge when annoyed - my dearest pleasure when free.

Mary Shelley
The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.

The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.

Mary Shelley
I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.

I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.

Mary Shelley
The world was to me a secret which I desired to devine.

The world was to me a secret which I desired to devine.

Mary Shelley