Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley More Quotes by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley More Quotes From Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley It is hardly surprising that women concentrate on the way they look instead of what is in their minds since not much has been put in their minds to begin with. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley mind looks way Invention consists in the capacity of seizing on the capabilities of a subject, and in the power of moulding and fashioning ideas suggested to it. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley invention capacity ideas Even the eternal skies weep, I thought; is there any shame then, that mortal man should spend himself in tears? Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley grief rain men The time at length arrives, when grief is rather an indulgence than a necessity and the smile that plays upon the lips, although it may be deemed a sacrilege, is not banished. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley grief play may What are we, the inhabitants of this globe, least among the many that people infinite space? Our minds embrace infinity; the visible mechanism of our being is subject to merest accident. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley space life people All judges had rather that ten innocent should suffer than that one guilty should escape. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley guilty judging suffering But success shall crown my endeavours. Wherefore not? Thus far I have gone, tracking a secure way over the pathless seas: the very stars themselves being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph. Why not still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element? What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man? Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley stars heart men After days and nights of incredible labor and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life. Nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley generations causes night There is something at work in my soul which I do not understand. I am practically industrious - painstaking, a workman to execute with perseverance and labour - but besides this there is a love for the marvellous, a belief in the marvellous, intertwined in all my projects, which hurries me out of the common pathways of men, even to the wild sea and unvisited regions I am about to explore. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley perseverance sea men At the age of twenty six I am in the condition of an aged person - all my old friends are gone... & my heart fails when I think by how few ties I hold to the world. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ties heart thinking Precious attribute of woe-worn humanity! that can snatch ecstatic emotion, even from under the very share and harrow, that ruthlessly ploughs up and lays waste every hope. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley despair grief humanity She was no longer that happy creature who in earlier youth wandered with me on the banks of the lake and talked with ecstasy of our future prospects. The first of those sorrows which are sent to wean us from the earth had visited her, and its dimming influence quenched her dearest smiles. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley sorrow earth lakes The agony of my feelings allowed me no respite; no incident occurred from which my rage and misery could not extract its food. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley misery agony feelings I see by your eagerness, and the wonder and hope which your eyes express, my friend, that you expect to be in formed of the secret with which I am acquainted. That cannot be. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley eye secret wonder Solitude was my only consolation - deep, dark, deathlike solitude. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley solitude loneliness dark 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. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley topics intrusion connections I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley adam fallen angel My spirit will sleep in peace; or if it thinks, it will not surely think thus. Farewell. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley farewell sleep thinking In other studies you go as far as other have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley study gone discovery Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley grief disappointment sight
