From M. Shelly's introduction:
“Before, I looked upon the concepts of vice and injustice that I read in books or heard from others as tales of ancient days of imaginary evils…but now misery has come home, and men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other’s blood…” (xv)
“I shall thus give a general answer to the question so very frequently asked me—how I, then a young girl, came to think of and to dilate upon so very hideous an idea”
From the editor's introduction: "They eloped which, according to the principles of free love they all except Harriet believed in, was sanctified by a higher law"
From the book:
August 5th, 17—
About two o’clock the mist cleared away, and we beheld, stretched out in every direction, vast and irregular plains of ice, which seemed to have no end. Some of my comrades groaned, and my own mind began to grow watchful with anxious thoughts, when a strange sight suddenly attracted our attention and diverted our solicitude from our own situation. We perceived a low carriage, fixed on a sledge and drawn by dogs, pass on towards the north, at the distance of half a mile; a being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature, sat in the sledge and guided the dogs. We watched the rapid progress of the traveler with our telescopes until he was lost among the distant inequalities of the ice” (9).
“when the lapse of time proves the reality of the evil, then the actual bitterness of grief commences. Yet from whom has not that rude hand rent away some dear connection? And why should I describe a sorrow which all have felt, and must feel?” (29).
“the sun does not more certainly shine in the heavens than that which I now affirm is true” (38)
“if the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind” (41)
“for this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (43)
“I saw the grave worms crawling in the folds of the flannel” (44)
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