“You, who call Frankenstein your friend, seem to have a knowledge of my crimes and his misfortunes. But in the detail which he gave you of them he could not sum up the hours and months of misery which I endured wasting in impotent passions. For while I destroyed his hopes, I did not satisfy my own desires.”

– Mary Shelley

Frankenstein, Chapter 24. The monster to the ship’s captain Walton, as Victor lies dead from a severe case of pneumonia.