QuoteProject
Reason sits firm and holds the reins, and she will not let the feelings burst away and hurry her to wild chasms. The passions may rage furiously, like true heathens, as they are; and the desires may imagine all sorts of vain things: but judgment shall still have the last word in every argument, and the casting vote in every decision. Strong wind, earthquake-shock, and fire may pass by: but I shall follow the guiding of that still small voice which interprets the dictates of conscience.
Charlotte Bronte
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the importance of reason and judgment over unchecked emotions and desires.

In this quote, Charlotte Bronte portrays the struggle between rational thought and the tumultuous nature of human emotions. The passage suggests that while passions can be intense and chaotic, it is reason and judgment that ultimately guide one's decisions, akin to a calm force amidst life's storms. Bronte advocates for listening to one's conscience, implying that true wisdom comes from a quiet inner voice rather than from fleeting feelings or chaotic desires.

Themes

ReasonJudgmentEmotionsConsciencePassion

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a motivational speech about the importance of self-control.

More from Charlotte Bronte

All my heart is yours, sir: it belongs to you; and with you it would remain, were fate to exile the rest of me from your presence forever.
Charlotte BronteRead
Rochester: "I am no better than the old lightning-struck chestnut-tree in Thornfield orchard…And what right would that ruin have to bid a budding woodbine cover its decay with freshness?" Jane: "You are no ruin sir - no lighting-struck tree: you are green and vigorous. Plants will grow about your roots, whether you ask them or not, because they take delight in your bountiful shadow; and as they grow they will lean towards you, and wind round you, because your strength offers them so safe a prop.
Charlotte BronteRead
I like to see flowers growing, but when they are gathered, they cease to please. I look on them as things rootless and perishable; their likeness to life makes me sad. I never offer flowers to those I love; I never wish to receive them from hands dear to me.
Charlotte BronteRead
Peril, loneliness, an uncertain future, are not oppressive evils, so long as the frame is healthy and the faculties are employed; so long, especially, as Liberty lends us her wings, and Hope guides us by her star.
Charlotte BronteRead
For a long time the fear of seeming singular scared me away; but by degrees, as people became accustomed to me and my habits, and to such shadows of peculiarity as were engrained in my nature - shades, certainly not striking enough to interest, and perhaps not prominent enough to offend, but born in and with me, and no more to be parted with than my identity - but slow degrees I became a frequenter of this straight narrow path.
Charlotte BronteRead
But where are you going to, Helen? Can you see? Do you know?-I believe; I have faith: I am going to God.-Where is God? What is God?-My maker and yours, who will never destroy what He created. I rely implicitly on His power, and confide wholly in His goodness: I count the hours till that eventful one arrives which shall restore me to Him, reveal Him to me.
Charlotte BronteRead

Similar quotes

If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Gratitude opens your heart, and opening your heart is a wonderful and easy way for God to slip in.
Ram DassRead
Often people ask how I manage to be happy despite having no arms and no legs. The quick answer is that I have a choice. I can be angry about not having limbs, or I can be thankful that I have a purpose. I chose gratitude.
Nick VujicicRead
Somehow, we have to realize that what we watch and what we listen to not only often reflects our most violent tendencies but cultivates more violence.
Bernice KingRead
Believe that with your feelings and your work you are taking part in the greatest; the more strongly you cultivate this belief, the more will reality and the world go forth from it.
Rainer Maria RilkeRead
If he [Thomas Edison] had a needle to find in a haystack, he would not stop to reason where it was most likely to be, but would proceed at once with the feverish diligence of a bee, to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. ... [J]ust a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety percent of his labor.
Nikola TeslaRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.