Quotes from Jane Austen

That Lady Russell of steady age and character, and extrememly well provided for,should have no thought of a second marriage needs no apology to the public, which is rather apt to be unreasonalbly discontented when a woman 'does' marry again,than when she does not, but Sir William's continuing in singleness requires explanation.

No, I did not promise. I only smirked and bowed, and said the word "happy." There was no promise.

Why she did not like Jane Fairfax might be a difficult question to answer; Mr. Knightley had once told her it was because she saw in her the really accomplished young woman, which she wanted to be thought herself; and though the accusation had been eagerly refuted at the time, there were moments of self-examination in which her conscience could not quite acquit her.

Their resemblance in good principles and good sense, in disposition and manner of thinking, would probably have been sufficient to unite them in friendship, without any other attraction; but their being in love with two sisters, and two sisters fond of each other, made that mutual regard inevitable and immediate, which might otherwise have waited the effect of time and judgment.

Miss Eliza Bennet, said Miss Bingley, despises cards. She is a great reader, and has no pleasure in anything else.

He knew her illnesses; they never occurred but for her own convenience.

The politeness which she had been brought up to practise as a duty made it impossible for her to escape; while the want of that higher species of self-command, that just consideration of others, that knowledge of her own heart, that principle of right, which had not formed any essential part of her education, made her miserable under it.

I have often observed that resignation is never so perfect as when the blessing denied begins to lose somewhat of its value in our estimation.

Every noisy evil is missed when it is taken away.

She might have made just as good a woman of consequence as Lady Bertram, but Mrs. Norris would have been a more respectable mother of nine children on a small income.

Sometime the worst type of weapon in the world is love.

There seems a general wish of decrying the capacity and undervaluing the labor of the novelist, and of slighting performances which have only genius, wit and taste to recommend them.

At last it arrested her—and she beheld a striking resemblance to Mr. Darcy, with such a smile over the face as she remembered to have sometimes seen when he looked at her.

I know it to be the established custom of your sex to reject a man on the first application, and perhaps you have even now said as much to encourage my suit as would be consistent with the true delicacy of the female character.

Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot's character; vanity of person and of situation.

Comment, avec votre bon sens, pouvez-vous être aussi loyalement aveuglée sur la sottise d'autrui ? Il n'y a que vous qui ayez assez de candeur pour ne voir jamais chez les gens que leur bon côté...

since they had met, and repeatedly

Yine de genç bir akl?n önyarg?lar?nda öyle sevimli bir ÅŸey var ki, insan daha yayg?n görüÅŸlerin kabulüne feda edildiklerini görmekten üzüntü duyuyor.

Dia mesti mencamkan bahwa tak seorang pun berhak dinilai atau dihakimi berdasarkan korespondensi pribadinya.

I have not yet tranquillised myself enough to see Frederica.

Well, he certainly is very agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a stupider person.

There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well

The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.

Mrs. Jennings, Lady Middleton's mother, was a good-humoured, merry, fat, elderly woman, who talked a great deal, seemed very happy, and rather vulgar.