Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.”
- Source
- Jane Eyre
- Date
- 1847
- Local voice
- Fictional character · Jane Eyre
Meaning of “I care for myself. The more solitary, the…”
Jane’s self-care is inseparable from moral self-respect: the fewer external supports she has, the more firmly she refuses to abandon principles that preserve her dignity.
Where does it come from?
Jane Eyre, Chapter XXVII, Project Gutenberg #1260. Jane answers the pressure to remain with Rochester by saying she cares for herself and will respect herself more when friendless and unsupported, then explicitly invokes law, principles and temptation. It is fictional first-person moral reasoning under dramatic pressure, not Charlotte Brontë autobiography or universal relationship advice.
Why the local voice matters
Jane speaks in Chapter XXVII while refusing a course she believes violates her conscience.
