Last January, rid of all mistresses – in a harsh, bitter frame of mind, the result of a useless, roving, lonely life – corroded with disappointment, sourly disposed against all men, and especially against all womankind (for I began to regard the notion of an intellectual, faithful, loving woman as a mere dream), recalled by business, I came back to England.
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 27. Rochester stikes a cynical and bitter note, as he tells Jane how he came back to England following his disastrous marriage to Bertha. He felt lonely and isolated and had given up his dream of a loving and faithful woman.