--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He leant his two elbows on his knees, and…" description: "\"He leant his two elbows on his knees, and his chin on his hands and remained rapt in dumb meditation. On my inquiring the subject of his thoughts, he a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0c/emily-bronte-574_care_he-leant-his-two-elbows-on-his-knees-and_2598281.jpg" --- # He leant his two elbows on his knees, and his chin on his… ![“He leant his two elbows on his knees, and his chin on his hands and remained rapt in dumb meditation. On my inquiring the subject of his thoughts, he answered gravely 'I'm trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back. I don't care how long I wait, if I can only do it at last. I hope he will not…” quote by Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0c/emily-bronte-574_care_he-leant-his-two-elbows-on-his-knees-and_2598281.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0c/emily-bronte-574_care_he-leant-his-two-elbows-on-his-knees-and_2598281.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0c/emily-bronte-574_care_he-leant-his-two-elbows-on-his-knees-and_2598281.jpg) > “He leant his two elbows on his knees, and his chin on his hands and remained rapt in dumb meditation. On my inquiring the subject of his thoughts, he answered gravely 'I'm trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back. I don't care how long I wait, if I can only do it at last. I hope he will not die before I do!' 'For shame, Heathcliff!' said I. 'It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive.' 'No, God won’t have the satisfaction that I shall,' he returned. 'I only wish I knew the best way! Let me alone, and I'll plan it out: while I'm thinking of that I don't feel pain.” [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Depicts obsessive revenge, moral conflict, and divine punishment themes. **In simple terms:** Obsessive revenge and moral struggle. Key Takeaway Reflect on vengeance and forgiveness. Themes revenge morality faith Mood dark reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - reading analysis - ethical debates - personal reflection Key Concepts literature psychology Questions to Reflect On - What drives his need for revenge? - Can forgiveness break the cycle? A Different Perspective Revenge can consume identity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Care](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/care/) [Forgiving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forgiving/) [Heathcliff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heathcliff/) [Learn to forgive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learn-to-forgive/) [Meditation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meditation/) [Pain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pain/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Satisfaction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/satisfaction/) [Shame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shame/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Wicked People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wicked-people/) [Wish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wish/) ## Related quotes > [“For shame, Heathcliff!’ said I. ‘It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive.’ ‘No, God won’t have the satisfaction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/for-shame-heathcliff-said-i-it-is-for-god-to-punish-wicked-people-we/) [Emily Brontë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/it-is-for-god-to-punish-wicked-people-we-should-learn-to-forgive/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [...he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he is more myself than I am.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/he-shall-never-know-how-i-love-him-and-that-not-because-he-s-handsome/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [That is how I'm loved! Well, never mind. That is not my Heathcliff. I shall love mine yet; and take him with me: he's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/that-is-how-i-m-loved-well-never-mind-that-is-not-my-heathcliff-i/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [I got the sexton, who was digging Linton’s grave, to remove the earth off her coffin lid, and I opened it. I thought, once,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/i-got-the-sexton-who-was-digging-linton-s-grave-to-remove-the-earth/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [I shouldn't care what you suffered. I care nothing for your sufferings. Why shouldn't you suffer? I do! Will you forget me? Will you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/i-shouldn-t-care-what-you-suffered-i-care-nothing-for-your-sufferings/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [If he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn't love as much in eighty years as I could in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/if-he-loved-with-all-the-powers-of-his-puny-being-he-couldn-t-love-as/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/nelly-i-am-heathcliff-he-s-always-always-in-my-mind-not-as-a-pleasure/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [“Because misery, and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/because-misery-and-degradation-and-death-and-nothing-that-god-or/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven and if the wicked man in there had not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/i-ve-no-more-business-to-marry-edgar-linton-than-i-have-to-be-in/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [Wish and learn to smooth away the surly wrinkles, to raise your lids frankly, and change the fiends to confident, innocent angels, suspecting and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/wish-and-learn-to-smooth-away-the-surly-wrinkles-to-raise-your-lids/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/my-love-for-heathcliff-resembles-the-eternal-rocks-beneath-a-source/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [I have lost the faculty of enjoying their destruction, and I am too idle to destroy for nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/i-have-lost-the-faculty-of-enjoying-their-destruction-and-i-am-too/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods. Time will changeit,I'mwellaware, aswinterchangesthetrees. My Love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneatha…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/my-love-for-linton-is-like-the-foliage-in-the-woods-time-will/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [You make the decision: Whom did God punish?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sachar/you-make-the-decision-whom-did-god-punish/) [Louis Sachar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sachar/) ## More by Emily Bronte > [Honest people don't hide their deeds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/honest-people-don-t-hide-their-deeds/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [He is more myself than I am. Whatever our two souls are made of, his and mine are the same.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/he-is-more-myself-than-i-am-whatever-our-two-souls-are-made-of-his/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [I shall smile when wreaths of snow Blossom where the rose should grow; I shall sing when night's decay Ushers in a drearier day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/i-shall-smile-when-wreaths-of-snow-blossom-where-the-rose-should-grow/) [Emily Brontë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [how cruel, your veins are full of ice-water and mine are boiling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/how-cruel-your-veins-are-full-of-ice-water-and-mine-are-boiling/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods. Time will changeit,I'mwellaware, aswinterchangesthetrees. My Love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneatha…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/my-love-for-linton-is-like-the-foliage-in-the-woods-time-will/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [“I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free; and laughing at injuries, not maddening under them! Why am I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/i-wish-i-were-a-girl-again-half-savage-and-hardy-and-free-and/) [Emily Brontë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [The entire world is a collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/the-entire-world-is-a-collection-of-memoranda-that-she-did-exist-and/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [“Papa talks enough of my defects, and shows enough scorn of me, to make it natural I should doubt myself. I doubt whether I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/papa-talks-enough-of-my-defects-and-shows-enough-scorn-of-me-to-make/) [Emily Brontë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [“Mama never told me I had a father.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/mama-never-told-me-i-had-a-father/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/the-intense-horror-of-nightmare-came-over-me-i-tried-to-draw-back-my/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [“It is not in him to be loved like me: how can she love in him what he has not?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/it-is-not-in-him-to-be-loved-like-me-how-can-she-love-in-him-what-he/) [Emily Brontë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [I have lost the faculty of enjoying their destruction, and I am too idle to destroy for nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/i-have-lost-the-faculty-of-enjoying-their-destruction-and-i-am-too/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/my-love-for-heathcliff-resembles-the-eternal-rocks-beneath-a-source/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [Tis moonlight, summer moonlight, All soft and still and fair; The solemn hour of midnight Breathes sweet thoughts everywhere, But most where trees are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/tis-moonlight-summer-moonlight-all-soft-and-still-and-fair-the-solemn/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [“It expressed, plainer than words could do, the intense anguish at having made himself the instrument of thwarting his own revenge. Had it been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/it-expressed-plainer-than-words-could-do-the-intense-anguish-at/) [Emily Brontë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) [Explore all 400 Emily Bronte quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) ## More Care quotes > [I think, here's what I've realized from interviewing people, and I've been very open about my Catholicism and my love of Christ and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-mohr/i-think-here-s-what-i-ve-realized-from-interviewing-people-and-i-ve/) [Jay Mohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-mohr/) > [We all know what it feels like to love someone and care about them and want to protect them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiana-madeira/we-all-know-what-it-feels-like-to-love-someone-and-care-about-them/) [Kiana Madeira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiana-madeira/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! 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I hope he will not die before I do!' 'For shame, Heathcliff!' said I. 'It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive.' 'No, God won’t have the satisfaction that I shall,' he returned. 'I only wish I knew the best way! 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