Quotes from Jane Austen

when it comes to the question of dependence or independence!—At any rate, it must be better to have only one to please than two.

Parecía mediar entre ambos un abismo invencible.

His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both; by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved; and from his judgement, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance.

No, said he, smiling, that is no subject of regret at all. I have no pleasure in seeing my friends, unless I can believe myself fit to be seen.

Que nadie presuma de saber traducir los sentimientos de una mujer joven al obtener la seguridad de un amor para el que apenas se atrevía a guardar una esperanza

There does seem to be a something in the air of Hartfield which gives love exactly the right direction, and sends it into the very channel where it ought to flow.

Everybody has their taste in noises as well as in other matters; and sounds are quite innoxious, or most distressing, by their sort rather than their quantity.

There is nothing like stying at home for real comfort

She would have liked to know how he felt as to a meeting. Perhaps indifferent, if indifference could exist under such circumstances. He must be either indifferent or unwilling.

And she leaned back in the corner, to indulge her murmurs, or to reason them away; probably a little of both—such being the commonest process of a not ill-disposed mind.

Her companion's discourse now sunk from its hitherto animated pitch, to nothing more than a short, decisive sentence of praise or condemnation on the face of every woman they met; and Catherine, after listening and agreeing as long as she could,with all the civility and deference of the youthful female mind, fearful of hazarding an opinion of its own in opposition to that of a self-assured man, especially where the beauty of her own sex is concerned, ventured at length to vary the subject...

but her Letters were always unsatisfactory, and though she did not openly avow her feelings, yet every line proved her to be Unhappy.

todos nos gusta dar lecciones, pero sólo enseñamos lo que no merece la pena saber. Perdóname

And what are you reading, Miss? Oh! it is only a novel! replies the young lady, while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame. in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language.

I do assure you that I am not one of those young ladies (if such young ladies there are) who are so daring as to risk their happiness on the chance of being asked a second time.

One likes to hear what is going on, to be au fait as to the newest modes of being trifling and silly.

Lejos de mí, querida hermana, el despreciar tales placeres. Serán sin duda propios del carácter de casi todas las mujeres. Pero confieso que no me atraen. Prefiero, con mucho, un libro.

For shame, Emma! Do not mimic her. You divert me against my conscience.

Which makes his good manners the more valuable. The older a person grows, Harriet, the more important it is that their manners should not be bad; the more glaring and disgusting any loudness, or coarseness, or awkwardness becomes. What is passable in youth is detestable in later age.

Give me but a little cheerful company, let me only have the company of the people I love, let me only be where I like and with whom I like, and the devil take the rest, say I.

Had he been even old, ugly, and vulgar, the gratitude and kindness of Mrs. Dashwood would have been secured by any act of attention to her child; but the influence of youth, beauty, and elegance, gave an interest to the action which came home to her feelings.

Oh! what a silly Thing is Woman! How vain, how unreasonable!

He became what he ought to be: useful to his father, steady and quiet, and not living merely for himself.

The power of doing any thing with quickness is always much prized by the possessor, and often without any attention to the imperfection of the performance.