Books
17 of the Most Tweetable Brontë Sisters Quotes
I have a confession to make: sometimes I can be a little pretentious on Twitter.
I don’t mean to make it sound like my social media presence is always highbrow; I tweet about sandwiches and hot dads and my dog as much as the next girl. But sometimes I like to channel my inner Niles Crane and try to class up the joint. And my personal favorite way of doing this is to tweet quotes from my favorite books.
You know how sometimes when you’re reading a novel or poem and you come across a really good line? Maybe it’s funny, sad, or just feels particularly relevant to your life, and you really want to share it with someone. So why not the whole Internet?
A lot of authors have packed some pretty great quotes in fewer than 140 characters. The Brontë sisters, for example, knew how to express heartbreak, passionate love, and some great witty insults in a tweet-sized package. So, for your tweeting pleasure, here are some of the best quotes from the Brontë sisters that are short enough for you to post on Twitter and impress your friends with how literary you are. (Some very minor condensing had to be done to a few quotes — but I don’t think Anne, Charlotte, and Emily will mind.)
WHEN EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL
- “I allow she has small claims to perfection; but, then, I imagine that, if she were more perfect, she would be less interesting.” (Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall)
- “Because, my dear, beauty is that quality which, next to money, is generally the most attractive to the worst kinds of men.” (Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall)
WHEN YOU'RE CRAZY IN LOVE
- “To be together is for us to be at once as free as in solitude, as gay as in company.” (Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre)
- “He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same…” (Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights)
- “First study; then approve; then love.” (Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall)
- “Give me my flesh and blood lover, and I’ll leave all the Sir Herberts and Valentines to you — if you can find them.” (Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall)
WHEN YOU WANT TO SUBTWEET SOMEONE
- “I’m mortally sorry that you are not worth knocking down!” (Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights)
- “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.” (Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights)
WHEN YOU’RE GOING THROUGH A BREAKUP
- “I have not broken your heart — you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.” (Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights)
- “I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!” (Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights)
- “The entire world is a dreadful collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her!” (Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights)
- “My heart is too thoroughly dried to be broken in a hurry,” (Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall)
WHEN YOU’RE HAVING A “YOU GO GIRL” MOMENT
- “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.” (Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre)
- “I am not an angel, and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself.” (Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre)
- “I would always rather be happy than dignified.” (Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre)
- “It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; they will make it if they cannot find it.” (Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre)
- “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you.” (Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre)
