"No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should break through, as a traveller passes a paper screen." - Frankenstein, expressing the extreme excitement and exhilaration he feels upon the initial success of his creation.
"Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change." - Clerval, Frankenstein's friend, observes the profound impact that the creation has on Frankenstein, highlighting the transformative power of one's imagination.
"My imagination was vivid, yet my powers of analysis and application were deficient. Thus I proved a careless student." - Frankenstein acknowledges the limitations of his own intellect, suggesting that an overactive imagination can hinder logical reasoning and practical application.
"I thought only on the darkness I saw and the horror that had penetrated into the world. I accused Nature as the origin of the evil always latent in us." - Frankenstein reflects on the destructive consequences of his creation, questioning whether his act was inherently flawed due to the potential for evil that lies within human nature.
"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 the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow." - Frankenstein cautions others about the dangers of pursuing knowledge beyond one's natural capabilities, emphasizing the potential for self-destruction.
"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." - Professor Waldman warns Frankenstein about the potential negative consequences of his scientific pursuits, suggesting that they may lead to emotional detachment and dissatisfaction.