Frankenstein is a novel by English author Mary Shelley that tells the story of Victor Frankenstein.
Victor is a young scientist who creates a hideous sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment.
Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel’s first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was twenty.
80 Frankenstein Quotes With Page Numbers
Victor Frankenstein Characteristics
Victor Frankenstein is the protagonist and narrator of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein. He’s a scientist, genius, and madman with independent resources, allowing him to work away from public scrutiny.
He’s ambitious, individualistic, and daring in his pursuits of scientific achievement and fame.
Despite his successes, his selfishness and attraction to nature lead to his downfall. His relationships with people are strained, particularly with his female love interest, Elizabeth, as his obsession with his studies eventually causes his undoing.
Ultimately, Victor’s intellectual development and friendship with Henry Clerval are his only saving grace.
Frankenstein Monster Quotes and Page Numbers
Victor Frankenstein Quotes With Page Numbers
“I agree with you,” replied the stranger; “we are unfashioned creatures, but half made up, if one wiser, better, dearer than ourselves — such a friend ought to be — do not lend his aid to perfectionate our weak and faulty natures. I once had a friend, the most noble of human creatures, and am entitled, therefore, to judge respecting friendship. You have hope, and the world before you, and have no cause for despair. But I — I have lost everything, and cannot begin life anew.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 19
“The world was to me a secret, which I desired to discover; to her it was a vacancy, which she sought to people with imaginations of her own.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein Page 26
“I feel 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, Victor Frankenstein, Page 27
“I need not describe the feelings of those whose dearest ties are rent by that most irreparable evil, the void that presents itself to the soul, and the despair that is exhibited on the countenance. It is so long before the mind can persuade itself that she whom we saw every day and whose very existence appeared a part of our own can have departed forever—that the brightness of a beloved eye can have been extinguished and the sound of a voice so familiar and dear to the ear can be hushed, never more to be heard. These are the reflections of the first days; but 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? The time at length arrives when grief is rather an indulgence than a necessity; and the smile that plays upon the lips, although it may be deemed a sacrilege, is not banished. My mother was dead, but we had still duties which we ought to perform; we must continue our course with the rest and learn to think ourselves fortunate whilst one remains whom the spoiler has not seized.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 32
“I threw myself into the chaise that was to convey me away and indulged in the most melancholy reflections. I, who had ever been surrounded by amiable companions, continually engaged in endeavouring to bestow mutual pleasure—I was now alone. In the university whither I was going I must form my own friends and be my own protector. My life had hitherto been remarkably secluded and domestic, and this had given me invincible repugnance to new countenances. I loved my brothers, Elizabeth, and Clerval; these were “old familiar faces,” but I believed myself totally unfitted for the company of strangers. Such were my reflections as I commenced my journey; but as I proceeded, my spirits and hopes rose. I ardently desired the acquisition of knowledge. I had often, when at home, thought it hard to remain during my youth cooped up in one place and had longed to enter the world and take my station among other human beings. Now my desires were complied with, and it would, indeed, have been folly to repent.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 33
“It was very different when the masters of science sought immortality and power; such views, although futile, were grand: but now the scene was changed. The ambition of the inquirer seemed to limit itself to the annihilation of those visions on which my interest in science was chiefly founded. I was required to exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur for realities of little worth.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Pages 34, 35
“None but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 39
“With how many things are we on the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 39
“I do not ever remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition or to have feared the apparition of a spirit. Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, and a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 40
“Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be his world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 41
“A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquility. I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule. 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. If this rule were always observed; if no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with the tranquillity of his domestic affections, Greece had not been enslaved, Caesar would have spared his country, America would have been discovered more gradually, and the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Pages 43, 44
“The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 45
“When happy, inanimate nature had the power of bestowing on me the most delightful sensations.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 58
“I contempleted the lake; the waters were placid, all around was calm and the snowy mountains… the calm and heavenly scene restored me and I continued my journey toward Geneva.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 63
“But her’s was the misery of innocence, which, like a cloud that passes over the fair moon, for a while hides, but cannot tarnish its brightness.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 77
“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, (Character: Victor Frankenstein as narrator), Page 81
“I shunned the face of man; all sound of joy or complacency was torture to me; solitude was my only consolation—deep, dark, death-like solitude.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 81
“The sight of the awful and majestic in nature had indeed always the effect of solemnising my mind and causing me to forget the passing cares of life.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 88
“Alas! Why does man boast of sensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute; it only renders them more necessary beings. 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 and a chance word or scene that that word may convey to us.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 88
“We rest; A dream has power to poison sleep.
We rise; One wandering thought pollutes the day.
We feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep,
Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away;
It is the same: for, be it joy or sorrow,
The path of departure still is free.
Man’s yesterday may ne’er be like his morrow;
Nought may endure but mutability!”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 88
.“My heart, which was before sorrowful, now swelled with something like joy; I exclaimed, “Wandering spirits, if indeed ye wander, and do not rest in your narrow beds, allow me this faint happiness, or take me, as your companion, away from the joys of life.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 89
“Devil, do you dare approach me? and do you not fear the fierce vengeance of my arm wreaked on your miserable head?”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 89
“I expected this reception. All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us. You purpose to kill me. How dare you sport thus with life? Do your duty towards me, and I will do mine towards you and the rest of mankind. If you will comply with my conditions, I will leave them and you at peace; but if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 90
“Anguish and despair had penetrated into the core of my heart; I bore a hell within me, which nothing could extinguish.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 128
.“I have seen,” he said, “the most beautiful scenes of my own country; I have visited the lakes of Lucerne and Uri, where the snowy mountains descend almost perpendicularly to the water, casting black and impenetrable shades, which would cause a gloomy and mournful appearance, were it not for the most verdant islands that relieve the eye by their gay appearance; I have seen this lake agitated by a tempest, when the wind tore up whirlwinds of water, and gave you an idea of what the waterspout must be on the great ocean; and the waves dash with fury the base of the mountain, where the priest and his mistress were overwhelmed by an avalanche, and where their dying voices are still said to be heard amid the pauses of the nightly wind; I have seen the mountains of La Valais, and the Pays de Vaud: but this country, Victor, pleases me more than all those wonders. The mountains of Switzerland are more majestic and strange; but there is a charm in the banks of this divine river, that I never before saw equalled. Look at that castle which overhangs yon precipice; and that also on the island, almost concealed amongst the foliage of those lovely trees; and now that group of labourers coming from among their vines; and that village half hid in the recess of the mountain. Oh, surely, the spirit that inhabits and guards this place has a soul more in harmony with man than those who pile the glacier, or retire to the inaccessible peaks of the mountains of our own country. “Clerval! beloved friend! even now it delights me to record your words, and to dwell on the praise of which you are so eminently deserving. He was a being formed in the “very poetry of nature.” His wild and enthusiastic imagination was chastened by the sensibility of his heart.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Viktor Frankenstein in his letter to Clerval, Pages 150, 151
“I enjoyed this scene; and yet my enjoyment was embittered both by the memory of the past, and the anticipation of the future. I was formed for peaceful happiness. During my youthful days discontent never visited my mind; and if I was ever overcome by ennui, the sight of what is beautiful in nature, or the study of what is excellent and sublime in the productions of man, could always interest my heart, and communicate elasticity to my spirits. But I am a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul; and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit, what I shall soon cease to be — a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, pitiable to others, and abhorrent to myself.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 155
“But he found that a traveller’s life is one that includes much pain amidst its enjoyments. His feelings are for ever on the stretch; and when he begins to sink into repose, he finds himself obliged to quit that on which he rests in pleasure for something new, which again engages his attention, and which also he forsakes for other novelties.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 156
“my feelings became calmer, if it may be called calmness when the violence of rage sinks into the depths of despair”
~Mary Shelly, Frankenstein, (Character: Victor Frankenstein as the narrator), Page 164
“I looked upon the sea, it was to be my grave”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 166
“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, Victor Frankenstein, Page 167
“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, Victor Frankenstein, Page 172
.“The cup of life was poisoned for ever; and although the sun shone upon me, as upon the happy and gay of heart, I saw around me nothing but a dense and frightful darkness, penetrated by no light but the glimmer of two eyes that glared upon me.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 176
“…take me where I may forget myself, my existence, and all the world.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 177
“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 191
“Man,” I cried, “how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom!”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 194
“My life, as it passes thus, was indeed hateful to me, and it was during sleep alone that I could taste joy. O blessed sleep!”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 197
“My reign is not yet over… you live, and my power is complete. Follow me; I seek the everlasting ices of the north, where you will feel the misery of cold and frost to which I am impassive. You will find near this place, if you follow not too tardily, a dead hare; eat and be refreshed. Come on, my enemy; we have yet to wrestle for our lives; but many hard and miserable hours must you endure until that period shall arrive.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 198
“… the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later friend can obtain.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 205
“did you not call this a glorious expedition? and wherefore was it glorious? not because the way was smooth and placid as a southern sea, but because it was full of dangers and terror, because at every new incident your fortitude was to be called forth and your courage exhibited, because danger and death surrounded it, and these you were brave to overcome. for this was it a glorious , for this was it an honorable undertaking”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 207
“Oh! Be men, or be more than men. Be steady to your purposes and firm as a rock. This ice is not made of such stuff as your hearts may be; it is mutable and cannot withstand you if you say that it shall not. Do not return to your families with the stigma of disgrace marked on your brows. Return as heroes who have fought and conquered, and who know not what it is to turn their backs on the foe.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Page 208
Victor Frankenstein Quotes About Creating Life
Some of Victor Frankenstein’s quotes about creating life are:
“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 Frankenstein
“I had worked hard for nearly two years for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body.”
– Victor Frankenstein
“I beheld the wretch – the miserable monster whom I had created.”
– Victor Frankenstein
Victor Frankenstein Quotes About Science
Victor’s quotes about science reflect his ambition, passion, and desire to uncover the world’s mysteries. Here are some of his most famous quotes about science:
“Whither does your senseless curiosity lead you?”
– Victor Frankenstein
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“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 as mine has been.”
– Victor Frankenstein
“I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with knowledge.”
– Victor Frankenstein
“The natural phenomena that take place every day before our eyes did not escape my examinations.”
– Victor Frankenstein
Quotes About Victor Frankenstein’s Ambition
What are some of Victor Frankenstein’s quotes about ambition?
Letter 2: “My life might have been passed in ease and luxury, but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path.”
– Victor Frankenstein
Letter 4: “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, as mine has been.”
– Victor Frankenstein
Chapter 5: “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation.” –
– Victor Frankenstein
Chapter 22: “If for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have banished myself forever from my native country and wandered a friendless outcast over the earth than have consented to this miserable marriage.”
– Victor Frankenstein
What was Victor Frankenstein’s last words?
Victor Frankenstein’s last words were, “I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames.” These words express the weary acceptance of his destiny and the ultimate acceptance of his death.
What becomes Victor’s obsession quote?
Victor’s obsession becomes the quest to create life from science, as evidenced by his quote, “I trod heaven in my thoughts, now exulting in my powers, now burning with the idea of their effects. From my infancy I was imbued with high hopes and a lofty ambition.”
What are some quotes of Victor being selfish in Frankenstein?
“I avoided explanation, and maintained a continual silence concerning the wretch I had created. I had a feeling that I should be supposed mad, and this for ever chained my tongue,”
“A thousand times rather would I confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine but such ravings would accuse me of being a madman.”
“Life…is dear to me, and I will defend it,”
What is the quote about Victor wanting revenge?
The quote about Victor wanting revenge is, “Again do I vow vengeance; again do I devote thee, miserable fiend, to torture and death” from Chapter 9. It illustrates how Victor’s hatred and desire for revenge have overwhelmed his sense of moderation, driving him to seek out the monster and avenge his loved ones.
What is Victor most guilty of in Frankenstein?
Victor is most guilty of neglecting his responsibility as a creator. He disregards any potential consequences of creating the Monster and instead focuses on his ambition. He fails to provide comfort to his family and shuns his own creation, ultimately leading to the death of many people, including those close to him.
What was Victor obsessed with?
Victor was obsessed with gaining knowledge and power over life, driven by his grief over his mother’s death and his desire to defy God. He relentlessly pursued knowledge and experimentation, neglecting his family and friends and eventually losing his physical and mental health. He wanted to create life and control its fate, ultimately leading to tragic consequences.