“It does good to no woman to be flattered [by a man] who does not intend to marry her; and it is madness in all women to let a secret love kindle within them, which, if unreturned and unknown, must devour the life that feeds it; and, if discovered and responded to, must lead, ignis-fatuus-like, into miry wilds whence there is no extrication.”

English novelist and poet

Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet. Born Charlotte Nicholls, she is best known as the elder sister of Emily, Anne and Branwell Brontë, and for her novel Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre first appeared under the pen name Currer Bell and was a major success when it was published. It has since come to be regarded as a classic of English literature.