Quotes from book
Agnes Grey
Agnes Grey, A Novel is the debut novel of English author Anne Brontë , first published in December 1847, and republished in a second edition in 1850. The novel follows Agnes Grey, a governess, as she works within families of the English gentry. Scholarship and comments by Anne's sister Charlotte Brontë suggest the novel is largely based on Anne Brontë's own experiences as a governess for five years. Like her sister Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre, it addresses what the precarious position of governess entailed and how it affected a young woman.

“Reading is my favourite occupation, when I have leisure for it and books to read.”
Source: Agnes Grey

“I always lacked common sense when taken by surprise.”
Variant: No, thank you, I don't mind the rain,' I said. I always lacked common sense when taken by surprise.
Source: Agnes Grey

“The end of Religion is not to teach us how to die, but how to live….”
Source: Agnes Grey

“What business had I to think of one that never thought of me?”
Source: Agnes Grey

said he, fervently pressing my hand.
"Yes."
Source: Agnes Grey (1847), Ch. XXV : Conclusion

“All true histories contain instruction”
Source: Agnes Grey (1847), Ch. I : The Parsonage
Context: All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity, that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut. Whether this be the case with my history or not, I am hardly competent to judge. I sometimes think it might prove useful to some, and entertaining to others; but the world may judge for itself. Shielded by my own obscurity, and by the lapse of years, and a few fictitious names, I do not fear to venture; and will candidly lay before the public what I would not disclose to the most intimate friend.