Jane Austen Quotes

Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.

To wish was to hope, and to hope was to expect

She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older: the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.

How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book!

A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can.

I will not say that your mulberry trees are dead; but I am afraid they're not alive.

How wonderful, how very wonderful the operations of time, and the changes of the human mind!

He may live in my memory as the most amiable man of my acquaintance.

We live at home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us.

Fine dancing, I believe, like virtue, must be its own reward.

Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then.

She denied none of it aloud, and agreed to none of it in private.

The little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush as produces little effect after much labour.

I will only add, God bless you.

Nothing ever fatigues me, but doing what I do not like.

I can always live by my pen.

But indeed I would rather have nothing but tea.

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

Now they were as strangers; nay worse than strangers, for they could never become acquainted.

Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.

What wild imaginations one forms where dear self is concerned! How sure to be mistaken!

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

Wisdom is better than wit, and in the long run will certainly have the laugh on her side.

On every formal visit a child ought to be of the party, by way of provisions for discourse.

My good opinion once lost is lost forever.

Sitting with her on Sunday evening - a wet Sunday evening - the very time of all others when if a friend is at hand the heart must be opened, and every thing told.

Almost anything is possible with time

With men he can be rational and unaffected, but when he has ladies to please, every feature works.

The mere habit of learning to love is the thing; and a teachableness of disposition in a young lady is a great blessing

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

Marry me. Marry me, my wonderful, darling friend.

I will be calm. I will be mistress of myself.

Men of sense, whatever you may choose to say, do not want silly wives.

There is one thing, Emma, which a man can always do if he chooses, and that is his duty; not by manoeuvring and finessing, but by vigour and resolution. - Mr. Knightley

She was nothing more than a mere good-tempered, civil and obliging Young Woman; as such we could scarcely dislike her -- she was only an Object of Contempt

A person who is knowingly bent on bad behavior, gets upset when better behavior is expected of them.

You may only call me "Mrs. Darcy"... when you are completely, and perfectly, and incandescently happy.

I am not born to sit still and do nothing. If I lose the game, it shall not be from not striving for it.

It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage.

There is a monsterous deal of stupid quizzing, & common-place nonsense talked, but scarcely any wit.

There certainly was some great mismanagement in the education of those two young men. One has got all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it.

Business, you know, may bring you money, but friendship hardly ever does.

Nobody, who has not been in the interior of a family, can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be.

Respect for right conduct is felt by every body.

It is your turn to say something now, Mr. Darcy. I talked about the dance, and you ought to make some kind of remark on the size of the room, or the number of couples.

And to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.

Provided that nothing like useful knowledge could be gained from them, provided they were all story and no reflection, she had never any objection to books at all.

That will do extremely well, child. You have delighted us long enough. Let the other young ladies have time to exhibit.

Had I not been bound to silence I could have provided proof enough of a broken heart, even for you.

I would rather have young people settle on a small income at once, and have to struggle with a few difficulties together, than be involved in a long engagement.