“I would always rather be happy than dignified, and I ran a real risk of being thought ridiculous.”

A preference for genuine happiness over social dignity · Prose novel, Jane Eyre

• Beauty
• Joy

“Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education.”

An observation on education as a means of overcoming prejudice · Prose novel, Jane Eyre

• Education
• Truth

“Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion.”

A challenge to social conformity and moral complacency · Prose novel, Jane Eyre

• Faith
• Truth

“Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.”

A plea to reject resentment and make better use of life · Prose novel, Jane Eyre

• Hope
• Time

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”

A declaration of personal freedom and self-determination · Prose novel, Jane Eyre

• Freedom
• Truth