Indeed. In fact, I often use this quote together with the scene from the Magnificent Seven – the conversation between Chris and Vin. Chris says they have to go back and finish the job, because they took a contract. Vin points out, “It’s sure not the kind any court would enforce.”
Chris replies, “That’s just the kind you’ve got to keep.”
And let me just point out I’m aware of the oddity of quoting Jane Eyre and The Magnificent Seven in the same breath.
JE fans who also enjoy humorous speculative fiction might check out “The Eyre Affair” by Jasper Fforde - lots of fun.
Here are some other Jane Eyre-inspired books I am aware of:
Jane Rochester by Kimberly Bennett – a sequel detailing Jane’s married life. Kind of dull actually, except for Jane’s wedding night (yes indeedy), but the author does a terrific job of re-creating Bronte’s nineteenth century voice.
Rochester by J. L. Niemann – Jane Eyre from Rochester’s POV and yep, it’s erotica. Fun but not for the squeamish, I guess. But very romantic.
Jane by April Lindner – “What if Jane Eyre married a rock star?” Lots of fun.
Jane Slayer “by Charlotte Bronte and Sherri Browning Erwin” – Jane and vampyres, zombies, and werewolves. Haven’t read this one yet.
Jenna Starborn by Sharon Shinn – Jane Eyre IN SPACE! Haven’t read this one yet either.
Jane Eyre’s Daughter by Elizabeth Newark – don’t know this one.
Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler – this is a novel about the Brontes.
There’s also a book written from a grown-up Adele’s POV, and I guess Adele isn’t happy. There’s a Jane Eyre graphic novel. I once found some kind of naughty JE book on Amazon – spankings at Lowood, etc. – the reviews made it sound like it was garbage and very weird; hardly anything of the original characters. Not my thing.
Two Kindle books: Jane Eyre’s Husband: The Life of Edward Rochester by Tara Bradley and An American Heir: A Modern Retelling of Jane Eyre by Chrissy Breen Keffer. I know nothing of these.
I should probably stop now. 
I did say it was my favorite book, didn’t I?
Anyone got any others? I know about Wide Sargasso Sea, of course, but that doesn’t interest me.
Oh, and two weeks until the latest movie is out on DVD! Oo-oo-oo! 
That would be An English Education. Very strange indeed.
So what does everyone think is the fundamental pull of this story? Why is it so compelling, so enduring? What is it in it that evidently speaks to something very fndamental in a very large number of people, both male and female?
I think this says it very well. Jane’s smarter and tougher than I ever found it in myself to be.
Also, I groove on the descriptions of clothing and furnishings. I love the scene where they clean down Moor House.
Because he loves her for herself – she has no social status, no money, she’s not even pretty! Usually any google-eyed twit can snag a man if she’s at least pretty. He loves and respects her because of her independent will, her intelligence and her moral character.
Well, except for the fact that her position is rdiculous. Not in that time and place, of course, and that’s why I can enjoy the story, but still… his wife is a disconnected homicidal maniac! He’s supposed to give up any chance at happiness?
Again, that time and place…
Yeah, that’s my take. It’s REAL love.
If we always want what we don’t or can’t have… in this day and age of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, et al, we NEED Jane.
On the commentary track of Sense and Sensibility, Emma Thompson said something about the reason these older romance books endure has to do with the unattainable or forbidden love. Nowadays anybody can marry anybody or even not get married at all. I read somewhere that this is part of the reason Bollywood movies are catching on – they also have that unattainable or forbidden love plot present in the Indian culture.
I was at a Halloween party last year, and was, by 2 A.M., the sole surviving guest. As our exhausted friends snored all around us, the hostess and I had a lovely conversation in which we discovered that we had highly compatible literary tastes. When she asked my opinion of Jane Eyre, I was forced to admit that I’d never read it, a confession that sent her almost sprinting to her bookcase.
“Tolle, lege!” she cried, forcing the battered volume into my hands; and at that very instant, even as my fingertips closed about the worn leather binding, I sensed a spark bursting to life within the deepest recesses of my desolate soul. It was for but a moment – ephemeral, one thousandth of a heartbeat – yet possessed of astounding potential. It seemed to me not unlike to a tiny stone that, plunging through the surface of a stagnant pond, sweeps all away before its resounding wake, which starts as a nothing and reaches out inexorably to grasp eternity.
Okay, not really.
But I finished the book in two days, which is a remarkable feat for such a slow reader as myself. While it did, at times, test my patience, I found it a thrilling narrative – good enough to earn a permanent spot on my to-be-reread-periodically list.
Yep. I think that’s the only novel I can remember laughing out loud the whole way through. Didn’t know there was a flick version of it. Major lust for good old Becky, though.
ETA a few of Jules Vernes’s stuff did have me in stitches, but I can’t think of any other runners up.