Quotes by Jane Austen

“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.”

“A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”

“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

“The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!”

“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

“If I could but know his heart, everything would become easy.”

“There could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison”

“I must learn to be content with being happier than I deserve.”

“I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh.”

“To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.”

“Oh, Lizzy! do anything rather than marry without affection.”

“I do not think I ever opened a book in my life which had not something to say upon woman's inconstancy. Songs and proverbs, all talk of woman's fickleness. But perhaps you will say, these were all ...”

“You must be the best judge of your own happiness.”

“A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.”

“When I look out on such a night as this, I feel as if there could be neither wickedness nor sorrow in the world; and there certainly would be less of both if the sublimity of Nature were more atten...”

“Fanny spoke her feelings. "Here's harmony!" said she; "here's repose! Here's what may leave all painting and all music behind, and what may tranquillise every care, and lift the heart to rapture! W...”

“Why not seize the pleasure at once? -- How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!”

“[I]t is well to have as many holds upon happiness as possible.”

“She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me, and I am in no humor at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men.”

“There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.”