Quotes by Jane Austen

“I never saw quite so wretched an example of what a sea-faring life can do: but to a degree, I know it is the same with them all; they are all knocked about, and exposed to every climate, and every ...”

“Were I to fall in love, indeed, it would be a different thing! but I have never been in love; it is not my way, or my nature; and I do not think I ever shall. And, without love, I am sure I should ...”

“She had nothing to wish otherwise, but that the days did not pass so swiftly. It was a delightful visit;—perfect, in being much too short.”

“Occupied in observing Mr. Bingley’s attentions to her sister, Elizabeth was far from suspecting that she was herself becoming an object of some interest in the eyes of his friend. Mr. Darcy had at ...”

“It is a most repulsive quality, indeed,’ said he. ‘Oftentimes very convenient, no doubt, but never pleasing. There is safety in reserve, but no attraction. One cannot love a reserved person.’‘Not t...”

“There had been moments when she felt he had almost forgiven her. She would always remember those moments.”

“Till it does come, you know, we women never mean to have anybody. It is a thing of course among us, that every man is refused, till he offers.”

“...it is indeed a street of so impertinent a nature, so unfortunately connected with the great London and Oxford roads, and the principal inn of the city, that a day never passes in which parties o...”

“The anxiety, which in this state of their attachment must be the portion of Henry and Catherine, and of all who loved either, as to its final event, can hardly extend, I fear, to the bosom of my re...”

“Everybody's heart is open you know when they have recently escaped from severe pain or are recovering the blessing of health.”

“Where an opinion is general it is usually correct.”

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

“A person who can write a long letter with ease cannot write ill.”

“Grant us grace Almighty Father so to pray as to deserve to be heard.”

“I have been a selfish being all my life in practice though not in principle.”

“Let him have all the perfections in the world, I think it ought not to be set down as certain that a man must be acceptable to every woman he may happen to like himself.”

“Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot's character; vanity of person and of situation. He had been remarkably handsome in his youth; and, at fifty-four, was still a very fine man...”