I’ve started rereading Jane Eyre, and this quote stopped me in my tracks:
“If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.”
I thought, Go on, Helen Burns—how incredibly wise for a 14-year-old girl.
She radiates main character energy—even though she isn’t.
Still, I suppose Helen reminds us of the guides we often encounter in our own stories—the ones who shape us, even if they aren’t the focus.
Then, in reference to young Jane Eyre’s eagerness for external validation and her tendency to people-please, Helen says:
“Hush, Jane! You think too much of the love of human beings; you are too impulsive, too vehement. The sovereign hand that created your frame, and put life into it, has provided you with other resources than your feeble self, or than creatures feeble as you.
Honestly, I don’t remember this bit! Maybe I wasn’t ready for those words back in Year 10 because I was much like Jane Eyre.
Then, if that little nugget wasn’t wise enough, Helen continues with a spiritual message of hope:
Besides this earth, and besides the race of men, there is an invisible world and a kingdom of spirits: that world is around us, for it is everywhere, and those spirits watch us, for they are commissioned to guard us; and if we were dying in pain and shame, if scorn smites us on all sides and hatred crushes us, angels see our tortures, recognise our innocence, and God waits only the separation of spirit from flesh to crown us with a full reward.”
Her words are so profound that they grounded me in a way I hadn’t expected. Maybe they’ll do the same for you.
Isn’t it funny that, even though this was written over 170 years ago, Helen’s advice hasn’t aged?
Her encouraging words still resonate in today’s world of likes, follows, and fleeting trends—don’t you think?
But, if it’s still relevant today, maybe humans are just built this way!
And on a spiritual level, with all the injustices going on in the world, her words comforted— not just with the idea of validation but with the reminder that:
what happens in the dark will always come to light. There’s a truth—divine you could say—that will be revealed in the end, even if (right now) it feels like you’re surrounded by negativity.
Goodness me. Super deep, I know. But that’s Helen Burns for you!
Anyway, what are you reading at the moment? And have you come across words or stories that stopped you in your tracks or stayed with you long after reading them?