Laws are not for the times when there is no temptation (Bronte)
November 30th, 2007 | Published in Morality, Sexuality, Quotes, Religion
Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth—so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane—quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count the throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot.
–Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (1847; Reader’s Digest, 1984), p. 285