Jane Austen Quotes (569 Quotes)


    At Christmas every body invites their friends and thinks little of even the worst weather.

    I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like

    Mr. Knightley seemed to be trying not to smile; and succeeded without difficulty, upon Mrs. Elton's beginning to talk to him.

    There was no being displeased with such an encourager, for his admiration made him discern a likeness before it was possible.






    Every young lady may feel for my heroine in this critical moment, for every young lady has at some time or other known the same agitation.

    She mediated, by turns, on broken promises and broken arches, phaetons and false hangings, Tilneys and trap-doors.

    A man does not recover from such devotion of the heart to such a woman! He ought not; he does not.


    She hoped to be wise and reasonable in time; but alas! Alas! She must confess to herself that she was not wise yet.

    Woe betide him, and her too, when it comes to things of consequence, when they are placed in circumstances requiring fortitude and strength of mind, if she have not resolution enough to resist idle interference ... It is the worst evil of too yielding and indecisive a character, that no influence over it can be depended on. You are never sure of a good impression being durable; everybody may sway it. Let those who would be happy be firm.


    Far be it from me, my dear sister, to depreciate such pleasures. They would doubtless be congenial with the generality of female minds. But I confess they would have no charms for me. I should infinitely prefer a book.

    How little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue.


    It sometimes is a disadvantage to be so very guarded. If a woman conceals her affection from the object of it, she may loose the opportunity of fixing him.

    Mr. Wickham was the happy man towards whom almost every female eye was turned, and Elizabeth was the happy woman by whom he finally seated himself

    She told the story, however, with great spirit among her friends; for she had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in any thing ridiculous.


    Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want.

    Edward Ferrars was not recommended to their good opinion by any peculiar graces of person or address. He was not handsome, and his manners required intimacy to make them pleasing. He was too diffident to do justice to himself; but when his natural shyness was overcome, his behaviour gave every indication of an open, affectionate heart.

    If her case was pitiable, his was hopeless. His imprudence had made her miserable for a while; but it seemed to have deprived himself of all chance of ever being otherwise.



    I cannot make speeches, Emma...If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am. You hear nothing but truth from me. I have blamed you, and lectured you, and you have borne it as no other woman in England would have borne it.

    Mr. Knightley, if I have not spoken, it is because I am afraid I will awaken myself from this dream.

    These are the sights, Harriet, to do one good. How trifling they make every thing else appear!---I feel now as if I could think of nothing but these poor creatures all the rest of the day; and yet, who can say how soon it may all vanish from my mind?



    Oh! write, write. Finish it at once. Let there be an end of this suspense. Fix, commit, condemn yourself.

    Without any display of doing more than the rest, or any fear of doing too much, he was always true to her interests and considerate of her feelings, trying to make her good qualities understood, and to conquer the diffidence which prevented them from being more apparent; giving her advice, consolation, and encouragement.


    The advantages of natural folly in a beautiful girl have been already set forth by the capital pen of a sister author; and to her treatment of the subject I will only add, in justice to men, that though to the larger and more trifling part of the sex, imbecility in females is a great enhancement of their personal charms, there is a portion of them too reasonable and too well informed themselves to desire anything more in woman than ignorance.


    I do regard her as one who is too modest for the world in general to be aware of half her accomplishments, and too highly accomplished for modesty to be natural of any other woman.

    She knew that when she played she was giving pleasure only to herself; but this was no new sensation

    Yet there it was not love. It was a little fever of admiration; but it might, probably must, end in love with some

    As a brother, a landlord, a master, she considered how many people's happiness were in his guardianship! -- How much of pleasure or pain it was in his power to bestow! -- How much of good or evil must be done by him!









    Elinor could sit still no longer. She almost ran out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed, burst into tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease.


    More Jane Austen Quotations (Based on Topics)


    Man - Woman - World - Love - Happiness - Pleasure - Mind - Sense & Perception - Life - Friendship - Wisdom & Knowledge - Opinions - Emotions - Time - Sadness - Fate & Destiny - Manner - Education - Anger - View All Jane Austen Quotations

    More Jane Austen Quotations (By Book Titles)


    - Emma
    - Mansfield Park
    - Northanger Abbey
    - Persuasion
    - Pride and Prejudice
    - Sense and Sensibility

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