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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the themes of renewal and support in relationships, emphasizing that personal strength can uplift and nurture others.
In this exchange, Rochester compares himself to a ruined tree, suggesting he feels damaged and unworthy of love. Jane counters this by asserting that he is not ruined; instead, he possesses strengths that can nurture and support those around him. This metaphor illustrates how people can bloom and thrive in the presence of someone who provides love and encouragement, even if they themselves feel flawed or diminished.
Themes
LoveSupportStrengthRenewalRelationship
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a wedding speech to highlight the transformative power of love.
More from Charlotte Bronte
All quotes →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
To see and know the worst is to take from Fear her main advantage.
Charlotte BronteRead
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sometimes what you miss the most is the way a loved one made you feel about yourself.
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Dustin Lance BlackRead
She was humbled, she was grieved; she repented, though she hardly knew of what. She became jealous of his esteem, when she could no longer hope to be benefited by it. She wanted to hear of him, when there seemed the least chance of gaining intelligence. She was convinced that she could have been happy with him, when it was no longer likely they should meet.
Jane AustenRead
Love is like ice in the hands of children.
SophoclesRead
Majesty and love do not well agree, nor do they live together.
OvidRead