Quotes from Jane Austen

To find a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate!—Do not wish me such an evil.

to be able to impose on the public in such a case; but it is sometimes a disadvantage to be so very guarded. If a woman conceals her affection with the same skill from the object of it, she may lose the opportunity of fixing him; and it will then be but poor consolation to believe the world equally in the dark.

The effect of education I suppose

Think only of the past as its remembrance gives your pleasure.

and, if Mr. Thorpe would only have stopped, I would have jumped out and run after you. Is there a Henry in the world who could be insensible to such a declaration?

On every formal visit a child ought to be of the party, by way of provision for discourse. In the present case it took up ten minutes to determine whether the boy were most like his father or mother, and in what particular he resembled either, for of course every body differed, and every body was astonished at the opinion of the others.

Pray, my dear aunt, what is the difference in matrimonial affairs, between the mercenary and the prudent motive? Where does discretion end, and avarice begin?

That would be the greatest misfortune of all! -- To find a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate! -- Do not wish me such an evil.

Sir Edward's great object in life was to be seductive. With such personal advantages as he knew himself to possess, and such talents as he did also give himself credit for, he regarded it as his duty. He felt that he was formed to be a dangerous man - quite in line of the Lovelaces.

La amistad es el mejor bálsamo para las heridas que produce en el alma un amor mal correspondido.

The bells rang, and everybody smiled.

Angry people are not often wise.

Only think of Mrs. Holder's being dead! Poor woman, she has done the only thing in the world she could possibly do to make one cease to abuse her.

She is a great reader, and has no pleasure in anything else.

If we feel for the wretched, enough to do all we can for them, the rest is empty sympathy, only distressing to ourselves." Harriet

Mrs. Jennings was a widow with an ample jointure. She had only two daughters, both of whom she had lived to see respectably married, and she had now therefore nothing to do but to marry all the rest of the world.

Let me thank you again and again, in the name of all my family, for that generous compassion which induced you to take so much trouble, and bear so many mortifications, for the sake of discovering them. If you will thank me, he replied, let it be for yourself alone. That the wish of giving happiness to you might add force to the other inducements which led me on, I shall not attempt to deny. But your family owe me nothing. Much as I respect them, I believe I thought only of you. Elizabeth

I would have jumped out and run after you.' Is there a Henry in the world who could be insensible to such a declaration? Henry Tilney at least was not. With a yet sweeter smile, he said every thing that need be said...

Jedna po?owa ludzi na ?wiecie nie potrafi zrozumie?, dlaczego drugiej po?owie co? sprawia przyjemno??.

Till I have your disposition, your goodness, I never can have your happiness." ~ Jane Austen (Pride & Prejudice)

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. I

What an air of probability sometimes runs through a dream! And at others, what a heap of absurdities it is!

Mary, who having, in consequence of being the only plain one in the family, worked hard for knowledge and accomplishments, was always impatient for display.

I will venture to say that my investigations and decisions are not usually influenced by my hopes or fears.