English resources/Frankenstein/Quotes
Frankenstein quotes, in plain words
Every big quote from the book. Who says it, where, and what it means. Start with the twenty marked with a dot.
Download all of this as a PDF · put it in your drive, print it, share it. No sign-up.
Learn these twenty first
Short. Easy to remember. Between them they cover every theme and every main character.
Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful.
Creature · Chapter 20 · revenge
Victor destroys the half-made female. The creature has nothing to lose now. That makes him dangerous.
It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils.
The famous first line of Chapter 5. The creature comes alive on a wet November night.
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.
Victor · Chapter 5 · creation · responsibility
He wanted this more than anything. The moment it is done, he is disgusted. He runs away.
the beauty of the dream vanished
The dream was beautiful. The real thing is not.
Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge
Victor · Chapter 4 · knowledge · ambition
Victor's warning. Do not do what I did. Knowing too much is dangerous.
I ought to be thy Adam
Creature · Chapter 10 · creation · responsibility
The creature asks to be treated like a first son, not a devil.
Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful.
Creature · Chapter 20 · revenge
Victor destroys the half-made female. The creature has nothing to lose now. That makes him dangerous.
I will be with you on your wedding-night.
Creature · Chapter 20 · revenge · family
The threat. Victor thinks it means his own death. It means Elizabeth's.
Believe me, Frankenstein, I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity
Creature · Chapter 10 · prejudice · isolation
The creature says he was good. He wanted to love. People made him what he is.
I am malicious because I am miserable.
Creature · Chapter 17 · revenge · isolation · prejudice
I am bad because I am unhappy. Make me happy and I will be good. His whole argument in six words.
Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in tranquillity
Victor · Chapter 24 · ambition
His last words. Then he dies on the ship.
Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.
Victor · Chapter 23 · family · isolation
After Elizabeth is killed. Losing everything at once is the worst pain there is.
the miserable monster whom I had created
Victor · Chapter 5 · creation · prejudice
Victor's first name for his creation. Monster. He decides what it is before it has done anything.
All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!
Creature · Chapter 10 · prejudice · isolation
Everyone hates the unlucky. And nobody is as unlucky as him.
Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live?
Creature · Chapter 16 · creation · revenge · responsibility
After the De Laceys drive him out. He curses Victor for making him and leaving him.
I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on.
Creature · Walton's last letters · isolation · prejudice · responsibility
His last speech, over Victor's body. Abandoned. Kicked. Something that should not have been born.
Seek happiness in tranquillity and avoid ambition
Victor · Chapter 24 · ambition · knowledge
Victor's last advice to Walton. Be calm. Do not want too much. He did not take it himself.
Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy
Creature · Chapter 16 · revenge · family
The creature meets little William and learns his name. He kills him for it.
Polluted by crimes and torn by the bitterest remorse, where can I find rest but in death?
Creature · Walton's last letters · revenge · isolation
Nowhere left to go. He will burn himself on the ice.
Every quote, in order
All 42, in the order they happen.
- Walton's letters4 quotes
- Chapters 1 to 10: Victor's story17 quotes
- Chapters 11 to 16: the Creature's story5 quotes
- Chapters 17 to 24: the end13 quotes
- Walton's last letters3 quotes
Walton's letters
What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?
Walton · Letter 1 · ambition · knowledge · nature
Walton dreams of the North Pole as a place of endless light. He wants glory. So did Victor.
I have no friend
Walton is on a ship full of men and has nobody to talk to. Loneliness starts the book.
You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you
Victor · Letter 4 · knowledge · ambition
Victor warns Walton. Wanting to know too much can bite you like a snake. It bit him.
We are unfashioned creatures, but half made up
Victor · Letter 4 · family · isolation
People are unfinished on their own. They need a friend to complete them. Victor to Walton, about Clerval.
Chapters 1 to 10: Victor's story
The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine.
Victor · Chapter 2 · knowledge · ambition
As a boy Victor wanted to know how everything worked. That wanting is where it starts.
Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate
Victor · Chapter 2 · knowledge
Science decided his life, he says. Not him.
So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein—more, far more, will I achieve
Victor · Chapter 3 · ambition · knowledge
Others have done a lot. He will do more. He wants to be first and biggest.
Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge
Victor · Chapter 4 · knowledge · ambition
Victor's warning. Do not do what I did. Knowing too much is dangerous.
A new species would bless me as its creator and source
Victor · Chapter 4 · creation · ambition
He imagines a whole new race worshipping him. He wants to be a god.
It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils.
The famous first line of Chapter 5. The creature comes alive on a wet November night.
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.
Victor · Chapter 5 · creation · responsibility
He wanted this more than anything. The moment it is done, he is disgusted. He runs away.
the miserable monster whom I had created
Victor · Chapter 5 · creation · prejudice
Victor's first name for his creation. Monster. He decides what it is before it has done anything.
His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath
Victor · Chapter 5 · creation · prejudice
The creature is ugly. Thin yellow skin, black lips, watery eyes. Victor cannot look at him.
I felt the bitterness of disappointment
Two years of work. The result makes him sick. He goes to bed.
I beheld the wretch the miserable monster whom I had created
Victor · Chapter 5 · prejudice · creation
The creature comes to his bed and reaches out. Victor sees only a wretch and runs.
the beauty of the dream vanished
The dream was beautiful. The real thing is not.
Believe me, Frankenstein, I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity
Creature · Chapter 10 · prejudice · isolation
The creature says he was good. He wanted to love. People made him what he is.
Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel
Creature · Chapter 10 · creation · responsibility · isolation
I should have been your Adam, your first man. Instead you treat me like the devil.
All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!
Creature · Chapter 10 · prejudice · isolation
Everyone hates the unlucky. And nobody is as unlucky as him.
I ought to be thy Adam
Creature · Chapter 10 · creation · responsibility
The creature asks to be treated like a first son, not a devil.
I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend.
Creature · Chapter 10 · prejudice · isolation
I was good. Being miserable turned me bad. Make me happy again.
Chapters 11 to 16: the Creature's story
Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?
Creature · Chapter 13 · prejudice · isolation
He sees himself in water for the first time and learns what he looks like. He asks if he really is a monster.
Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live?
Creature · Chapter 16 · creation · revenge · responsibility
After the De Laceys drive him out. He curses Victor for making him and leaving him.
I, like the arch-fiend, bore a hell within me
Creature · Chapter 16 · revenge · isolation
Like the devil, he carries hell around inside him.
Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy
Creature · Chapter 16 · revenge · family
The creature meets little William and learns his name. He kills him for it.
I am alone and miserable; man will not associate with me
Creature · Chapter 16 · isolation
Nobody will be with him. That is why he wants a companion made like him.
Chapters 17 to 24: the end
I am malicious because I am miserable.
Creature · Chapter 17 · revenge · isolation · prejudice
I am bad because I am unhappy. Make me happy and I will be good. His whole argument in six words.
You must create a female for me
Creature · Chapter 17 · isolation · creation
He asks for one companion. Then he will go away for ever.
Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful.
Creature · Chapter 20 · revenge
Victor destroys the half-made female. The creature has nothing to lose now. That makes him dangerous.
I will be with you on your wedding-night.
Creature · Chapter 20 · revenge · family
The threat. Victor thinks it means his own death. It means Elizabeth's.
You are my creator, but I am your master; obey!
Creature · Chapter 20 · creation · revenge
The roles flip. The made thing gives the orders.
Man," I cried, "how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom!
Creature · Chapter 20 · knowledge · ambition
You think you are wise. You know nothing. The creature to his maker.
Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension.
Creature · Chapter 20 · revenge
He tried talking. Victor broke the deal. Now the creature calls him slave.
You have destroyed the work which you began
Creature · Chapter 20 · responsibility · revenge
Victor tore up the female. The creature's last hope is gone.
Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.
Victor · Chapter 23 · family · isolation
After Elizabeth is killed. Losing everything at once is the worst pain there is.
Seek happiness in tranquillity and avoid ambition
Victor · Chapter 24 · ambition · knowledge
Victor's last advice to Walton. Be calm. Do not want too much. He did not take it himself.
Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in tranquillity
Victor · Chapter 24 · ambition
His last words. Then he dies on the ship.
the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil
Victor · Chapter 24 · prejudice · revenge
An angel that falls turns into a devil. Victor's view of the creature, in the creature's own words from earlier.
I have lost everything and cannot begin life anew
Victor · Chapter 24 · family · isolation
His family is dead. There is nothing to rebuild with.
Walton's last letters
I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on.
Creature · Walton's last letters · isolation · prejudice · responsibility
His last speech, over Victor's body. Abandoned. Kicked. Something that should not have been born.
Polluted by crimes and torn by the bitterest remorse, where can I find rest but in death?
Creature · Walton's last letters · revenge · isolation
Nowhere left to go. He will burn himself on the ice.
I have devoted my creator, the select specimen of all that is worthy of love and admiration among men, to misery
Creature · Walton's last letters · revenge · responsibility
The creature admits he destroyed a man worth loving. He does not say Victor deserved it.
Now play today's Long Story ShortOne real news sentence. Keep five of its words. Two minutes. Free. No login.Play now