Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a literary masterpiece that explores themes of ambition, creation, isolation, and the consequences of defying nature.
Through the powerful and haunting words of its characters, Shelley crafts a narrative rich with profound insights and moral dilemmas.
The novel’s quotes reveal the depths of human emotion, the pain of rejection, and the dangers of unchecked scientific exploration.
From Victor Frankenstein’s obsessive pursuit of knowledge to the Creature’s yearning for acceptance, these quotes resonate deeply, offering readers timeless reflections on humanity, responsibility, and the ethics of creation.
Frankenstein Quotes: Page Number and Editions
According to the Arizona State University, there are 5 significant versions of Frankenstein; Page numbers may vary by editions with different pagination. Examples:
1818 edition (Paperback) has 237 pages
1831 edition (Paperback) has 152 pages
Frankenstein (Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels) has 166 pages
Best Famous Quotes from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is renowned for its timeless and thought-provoking quotes that capture its central themes.
Here are 5 of the best Frankenstein quotes:
- “Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.” – The Creature, Chapter 10
- “You are my creator, but I am your master; obey!” – The Creature, Chapter 20
- “Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.” – The Creature, Chapter 20
- “I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend.” – The Creature, Chapter 10
- “Seek happiness in tranquillity and avoid ambition.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 24
Important Young Frankenstein Quotes
The youthful ambition of Victor Frankenstein is central to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Quotes from Victor’s early years highlight his intense curiosity and obsession with unlocking the secrets of life and death.
His zeal for discovery, driven by the pursuit of glory, blinds him to the moral and ethical consequences of his actions.
These quotes capture a young Victor consumed by hubris, illustrating the dangerous allure of unchecked ambition:
- “They seemed to draw inexhaustible stores of affection from a very mine of love to bestow them upon me.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 1
- “The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 2
- “It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 2
- “Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 2
- “Seek not to learn, by sad experience, how frail are human hearts.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 4
- “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 4
- “I, not in deed, but in effect, was the true murderer.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 7
- “Justine, poor, good Justine, is innocent.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 8
- “William, dear angel! This is thy funeral, this is thy dirge!” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 8
- “I was cursed by some devil and carried about with me my eternal hell.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 8
- “I bore a hell within me, which nothing could extinguish.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 9
- “The serene sky and verdant fields filled me with ecstasy.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 9
- “These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the greatest consolation.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 9
- “I contemplated the lake: the waters were placid; all around was calm.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 9
- “The winds whispered in soothing accents, and maternal Nature bade me weep no more.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 9
- “The very winds whispered in soothing accents, and maternal Nature bade me weep no more.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 9
- “These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 9
- “The sight of the awful and majestic in nature had indeed always the effect of solemnizing my mind.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 10
- “I often sought the rugged grandeur of the mountains.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 10
Frankenstein Quotes About Creating the Monster / Creature
Victor’s reflections on creating the Creature are filled with a mix of wonder, horror, and regret.
His initial excitement about achieving scientific greatness quickly turns to dread after the monster comes to life.
These quotes underscore Victor’s failure to foresee the consequences of playing God and abandoning his creation, laying the foundation for the novel’s central tragedy:
- “I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 3
- “A new species would bless me as its creator and source.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 4
- “I shunned my fellow-creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 4
- “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 4
- “It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 5
- “I had been the author of unalterable evils.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 21
Quotes From the Monster / Creature in Frankenstein
The Creature’s words in Frankenstein are poignant and deeply introspective, offering a unique perspective on rejection, loneliness, and the desire for companionship.
The monster’s eloquent reflections reveal his humanity, even as his actions become increasingly vengeful, making him a tragic figure in the story.
- “I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel.” – The Creature, Chapter 10
- “Do your duty towards me, and I will do mine towards you.” – The Creature, Chapter 10
- “Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay to mould me man?” – The Creature, Chapter 10
- “Do your duty towards me, and I will do mine towards you and the rest of mankind.” – The Creature, Chapter 10
- “All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!” – The Creature, Chapter 10
- “You accuse me of murder; and yet you would, with a satisfied conscience, destroy your own creature.” – The Creature, Chapter 10
- “The guilty are allowed, by human laws, bloody as they are, to speak in their own defence before they are condemned.” – The Creature, Chapter 10
- “Of my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant.” – The Creature, Chapter 11
- “I often took his tools, the use of which I quickly discovered, and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days.” – The Creature, Chapter 11
- “When I looked around, I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster?” – The Creature, Chapter 13
- “If I have no ties and no affections, hatred and vice must be my portion.” – The Creature, Chapter 15
- “The more I read, the more I learn, the more I discover that I know nothing.” – The Creature, Chapter 15
- “Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination?” – The Creature, Chapter 15
- “I had feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and scorn.” – The Creature, Chapter 15
- “I had never yet seen a being resembling me, or who claimed any intercourse with me.” – The Creature, Chapter 15
- “Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.” – The Creature, Chapter 15
- “Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” – The Creature, Chapter 15
- “I admired virtue and good feelings, and loved the gentle manners and amiable qualities of my cottagers.” – The Creature, Chapter 15
- “Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred.” – The Creature, Chapter 15
- “The bleak skies I hailed as mine.” – The Creature, Chapter 16
- “Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live?” – The Creature, Chapter 16
- “I am alone and miserable; man will not associate with me.” – The Creature, Chapter 16
- “The tortures of hell are too mild a vengeance for thy crimes.” – The Creature, Chapter 16
- “Revenge remains – revenge, henceforth dearer than light or food!” – The Creature, Chapter 16
- “I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends.” – The Creature, Chapter 16
- “I am an unfortunate and deserted creature; I look around and I have no relation or friend upon earth.” – The Creature, Chapter 16
- “If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear!” – The Creature, Chapter 17
- “I am malicious because I am miserable.” – The Creature, Chapter 17
- “Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?” – The Creature, Chapter 17
- “Let him live with me in the interchange of kindness.” – The Creature, Chapter 17
- “My vices are the children of a forced solitude that I abhor.” – The Creature, Chapter 17
- “Begone! I have answered you; you may torture me, but I will never consent.” – The Creature, Chapter 17
- “If you consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see us again.” – The Creature, Chapter 17
- “Have a care; I will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart, so that you shall curse the hour of your birth.” – The Creature, Chapter 17
- “Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict.” – The Creature, Chapter 20
- “Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all humankind sinned against me?” – The Creature, Chapter 24
- “The miserable and the abandoned, am I to be thought the only criminal, when all humankind sinned against me?” – The Creature, Chapter 24
Frankenstein Quotes about Life and Love
The themes of life and love in Frankenstein are portrayed through a lens of longing and tragedy:
- “I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 4
- “Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 4
- “Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed? It was a bold question, and one which has ever been considered as a mystery.”– Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 4
- “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.”– Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 4
- “How shall I ever again believe in human goodness?” – Elizabeth Lavenza, Chapter 8
- “When falsehood can look so like the truth, who can assure themselves of certain happiness?” – Elizabeth Lavenza, Chapter 9
- “I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe.” – The Creature, Chapter 17
- “I have lost everything and cannot begin life anew.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 23
- “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 23
- “The forms of the beloved dead flit before me, and I hasten to their arms.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 24
Frankenstein Quotes by Robert Walton
Robert Walton, the Arctic explorer whose letters frame Frankenstein, reflects many of the novel’s key themes:
- “What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?” – Robert Walton, Letter 1
- “My life might have been passed in ease and luxury; but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path.” – Robert Walton, Letter 1
- “I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man.” – Robert Walton, Letter 1
- “There is something at work in my soul which I do not understand.” – Robert Walton, Letter 2
- “I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy.” – Robert Walton, Letter 2
- “You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did.” – Robert Walton, Letter 4
- “The die is cast; I have consented to return if we are not destroyed.” – Robert Walton, Letter 4
Short Frankenstein Quotes
- “The first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 5
- “The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil.” – The Creature, Chapter 10
- “Am I not alone, miserably alone?” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 22
- “I am chained in an eternal hell.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 24
- “No creature had ever been so miserable as I was.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 24
Other Key Quotes in Frankenstein Novel
- “If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free; but now we are moved by every wind that blows.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 10
- “We are unfashioned creatures, but half made up, if one wiser, better, dearer than ourselves does not lend aid to perfection our weak and faulty natures.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 18
- “I am irrevocably excluded. I had cast off all feeling, subdued all anguish.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 22
- “But I am a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 23
- “During these last days I have been occupied in examining my past conduct; nor do I find it blamable.” – Victor Frankenstein, Chapter 24
Book Summary: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a groundbreaking Gothic novel first published in 1818.
The story follows Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist whose ambition leads him to create life from inanimate matter. Consumed by the desire to conquer death, Victor succeeds in animating a creature but is horrified by its monstrous appearance.
Abandoned and left to fend for itself, the Creature experiences rejection and loneliness, eventually turning to violence as a means of seeking vengeance against its creator.
The narrative unfolds through a series of letters written by Robert Walton, an Arctic explorer, who encounters Victor on an icebound voyage. Victor recounts his tale, reflecting on his obsessive quest for knowledge and the devastating consequences of his actions.
As the Creature demands companionship and understanding, Victor struggles with his responsibility as its creator, ultimately refusing to create a mate for the being.
The novel delves deeply into themes of ambition, the ethical limits of science, isolation, and the quest for identity. It raises questions about the consequences of playing God and the responsibilities creators have toward their creations.
A tale of tragedy and moral reflection, Frankenstein remains a timeless exploration of human nature and the complexities of existence.
