Check out the best Frankenstein quotes that offer profound reflections on ambition, morality, loneliness, and the consequences of playing God.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a groundbreaking Gothic novel written by Mary Shelley and first published in 1818.
The story follows Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates life from the dead, only to be horrified by the consequences of his actions.
The creature, often mistakenly referred to as “Frankenstein,” struggles with loneliness, rejection, and a desire for revenge, creating a powerful narrative about responsibility, empathy, and the dangers of unchecked ambition.
Blending elements of horror, science fiction, and philosophy, Frankenstein explores themes of isolation, morality, identity, and humanity’s quest for power.
Whether you see the Creature as a monster or a misunderstood soul, Shelley’s novel forces us to ask: what does it truly mean to be human?
This timeless classic has inspired countless film adaptations, stage plays, and cultural references, making it one of the most influential novels of all time.
Here are some of the most famous Frankenstein quotes by Mary Shelley, which capture the haunting beauty, moral depth, and enduring relevance of the novel.
Top 10 Frankenstein Quotes From Mary Shelley
- “I am malicious because I am miserable.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear!” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “The world was to me a secret which I desired to discover.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel…” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” ― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Best Frankenstein Quotes
- “Man,” I cried, “how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom!” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “I am alone and miserable. Only someone as ugly as I am could love me.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I would make peace with all.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “When falsehood can look so like the truth, who can assure themselves of certain happiness?” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “One man’s life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that clinging love we have of life even in the excess of misery!” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “It is true, we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that account we shall be more attached to one another.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “… the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later friend can obtain.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “With how many things are we on the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Heavy misfortunes have befallen us, but let us only cling closer to what remains, and transfer our love for those whom we have lost to those who yet live.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Listen to me, Frankenstein. You accuse me of murder; and yet you would, with a satisfied conscience, destroy your own creature. Oh, praise the eternal justice of man!” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “There is love in me the likes of which you’ve never seen. There is rage in me the likes of which should never escape. If I am not satisfied int he one, I will indulge the other.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “I feel exquisite pleasure in dwelling on the recollections of childhood, before misfortune had tainted my mind, and changed its bright visions of extensive usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections upon self.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Famous Quotes From Frankenstein
- “We are fashioned creatures, but half made up.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “He was soon borne away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “The natural phenomena that take place every day before our eyes did not escape my examinations.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “I could not understand why men who knew all about good and evil could hate and kill each other.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “But soon, I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity and ruin.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to a mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on a rock.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “For a moment my soul was elevated from its debasing and miserable fears to which these sights were the monuments and the remembrances.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Frankenstein Monster Quotes
- “To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Hateful day when I received life!’ I exclaimed in agony. ‘Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “The whole series of my life appeared to me as a dream; I sometimes doubted if indeed it were all true, for it never presented itself to my mind with the force of reality.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “For an instant I dared to shake off my chains, and look around me with a free and lofty spirit; but the iron had eaten into my flesh, and I sank again, trembling and hopeless, into my miserable self.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “I shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true; but that is a poor medium for the communication of feeling. I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Nothing is more painful to the human mind than, after the feelings have been worked up by a quick succession of events, the dead calmness of inaction and certainty which follows and deprives the soul both of hope and fear.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “It may…be judged indecent in me to come forward on this occasion; but when I see a fellow-creature about to perish through the cowardice of her pretended friends, I wish to be allowed to speak, that I may say what I know of her character.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “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.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Frankenstein Quotes About Love, Life, And Monsters
- “How sweet is the affection of others to such a wretch as I am!” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “I believed myself totally unfitted for the company of strangers.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “You may deem me romantic, dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Alas! I had turned loose into the world a depraved wretch, whose delight was in carnage and misery; had he not murdered my brother?” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil, as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave, or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay?” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room, and continued a long time traversing my bed-chamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had long appeared dead, revive within me. Half surprised by the novelty of these sensations, I allowed myself to be borne away by them, and forgetting my solitude and deformity, dared to be happy.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Alas! I regret that I am taken from you; and, happy and beloved as I have been, is it not hard to quit you all? But these are not thoughts befitting me; I will endeavor to resign myself cheerfully to death, and will indulge a hope of meeting you in another world.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Conclusion
What are your favorite Frankenstein quotes and Frankenstein quotations listed above? If there is a quote that we’ve missed, then let us know in the comments section what your thoughts are.
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