Jane Austen Quotes

page 7

477 Quotes of Timeless Wisdom, Love, Friendship, Society, and Human Nature

“This is an evening of wonders, indeed!”

“And sometimes I have kept my feelings to myself, because I could find no language to describe them in.”

“She was feeling, thinking, trembling about everything; agitated, happy, miserable, infinitely obliged, absolutely angry.”

“Money is the best recipe for happiness.”

“I never could be so happy as you. Till I have your disposition, your goodness, I never can have your happiness.”

“When so many hours have been spent convincing myself I am right, is there not some reason to fear I may be wrong?”

“I often think," she said, "that there is nothing so bad as parting with one's friends. One seems to forlorn without them.”

“Have you any other objection than your belief of my indifference?"

- Elizabeth Bennet”

“My dear Alicia, of what a mistake were you guilty in marrying a man of his age! Just old enough to be formal, ungovernable, and to have the gout; too old to be agreeable, too young to die.”

“Time will generally lessen the interest of every attachment not within the daily circle.”

“Sitting with her on Sunday evening — a wet Sunday evening — the very time of all others when if a friend is at hand the heart must be opened, and every thing told…”

“I leave it to be settled, by whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny, or reward filial disobedience.”

“Sense will always have attractions for me.”

“It is very difficult for the prosperous to be humble.”

“her spirits wanted the solitude and silence which only numbers could give.”

“You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these last twenty years at least.”

“There certainly was some great mismanagement in the education of those two young men. One has got all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it.”

“She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me.”

“Wickedness is always wickedness, but folly is not always folly.”

“To be sure you know no actual good of me, but nobody thinks of that when they fall in love.”

“A single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as any body else.”

“A mother would have been always present. A mother would have been a constant friend; her influence would have been beyond all other.”

“I must have my share in the conversation…”

“You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.”

“I would much rather have been merry than wise.”

“…told herself likewise not to hope. But it was too late. Hope had already entered…”

“Every impulse of feeling should be guided by reason; and, in my opinion, exertion should always be in proportion to what is required.”

“Cold-hearted Elinor! Oh! Worse than cold-hearted! Ashamed of being otherwise.--Marianne Dashwood”

“Marriage is indeed a maneuvering business.”

“I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an authoress.”

“Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.”

“Everything nourishes what is strong already”

“A woman is not to marry a man merely because she is asked, or because he is attached to her, and can write a tolerable letter.”

“… I will not allow books to prove any thing."
"But how shall we prove any thing?"
"We never shall.”

“I do think that men can forget a lost love quickly. I know that women would find it much harder.”

“I am sorry to tell you that I am getting very extravagant, and spending all my money, and, what is worse for you, I have been spending yours too.”

“Good-humoured, unaffected girls, will not do for a man who has been used to sensible women. They are two distinct orders of being.”

“An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents.”

“I certainly will not persuade myself to feel more than I do. I am quite enough in love. I should be sorry to be more”

“I do not think it worth while to wait for enjoyment until there is some real opportunity for it.”

“The ladies here probably exchanged looks which meant, 'Men never know when things are dirty or not;' and the gentlemen perhaps thought each to himself, 'Women will have their little nonsense and needless cares.”

“Mr. Knightley seemed to be trying not to smile; and succeeded without difficulty, upon Mrs. Elton's beginning to talk to him.”

“There is a quickness of perception in some, a nicety in the discernment of character, a natural penetration, in short, which no experience in others can equal…”

“She was without any power, because she was without any desire of command over herself.”

“My style of writing is very diffrent from yours.”

“He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and every body hoped that he would never come there again.”

“One can never have too large a party.”

“Such squeamish youths as cannot bear to be connected with a little absurdity are not worth a regret.”

“What could I do! Facts are such horrid things!”