Jane Austen was a famous English novelist, who lived from December 1775 to July 1817.
She is one of the most well known novelists of all time, with her six major novels, being the reason for her great success.
These novels interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen’s plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security.
This right here, is a collection of the best Jane Austen quotes:
37 Timeless Jane Austen Quotes
1. “Dress is at all times a frivolous distinction, and excessive solicitude about it often destroys its own aim.” — Northanger Abbey
2. “I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.” – Letter to Cassandra
3. “It is very difficult for the prosperous to be humble.” — Emma
4. “Mr. Digweed has used us basely. Handsome is as handsome does; he is therefore a very ill-looking man.’” – Letter to Cassandra
5. “One man’s style must not be the rule of another’s.” — Emma
6. “There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.” — Emma
7. “To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.” — Pride and Prejudice
8. “Without music, life would be a blank to me.” — Emma
9. “For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?’” – Mr Bennet, Pride and Prejudice
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10. “I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives.” — Persuasion
11. “It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.” — Sense and Sensibility
12. “Next week I shall begin my operations on my hat, on which you know my principal hopes of happiness depend.’” – Letter
13. “Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure.” — Mansfield Park
14. “There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.’” – Emma
15. “Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us.” — Pride and Prejudice
16. “You know how interesting the purchase of a sponge-cake is to me.’” – Letter to Cassandra
17. “Give a girl an education and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one but she has the means of settling well, without further expense to anybody.” — Mansfield Park
18. “In vain I have 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.” – Pride and Prejudice
19. “Know your own happiness. Want for nothing but patience – or give it a more fascinating name: Call it hope.” — Sense and Sensibility
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20. “Nobody minds having what is too good for them.” – Mansfield Park
21. “Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable.” — Emma
22. “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.” — Northanger Abbey
23. “Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief.” — Emma
24. “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.” — Pride and Prejudice
25. “Indulge your imagination in every possible flight.” — Pride and Prejudice
26. “Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion.” — Pride and Prejudice
27. “Nothing ever fatigues me but doing what I do not like.” — Mansfield Park
28. “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.” — Pride and Prejudice
29. “There is safety in reserve, but no attraction. One cannot love a reserved person.’” – Emma
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30. “We are to have a tiny party here tonight. I hate tiny parties, they force one into constant exertion.’” – Letter
31. “I could no more write a romance than an epic poem. I could not sit seriously down to write a serious romance under any other motive than to save my life; and if it were indispensable for me to keep it up and never relax into laughing at myself or other people, I am sure I should be hung before I had finished the first chapter. No, I must keep to my own style and go on in my own way; and though I may never succeed again in that, I am convinced that I should totally fail in any other.’” – Letter to Mr. Clarke
32. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.’” – Pride and Prejudice
33. “Let me know when you begin the new tea, and the new white wine. My present elegancies have not yet made me indifferent to such matters. I am still a cat if I see a mouse.’” – Letter to Cassandra
34. “One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.” — Emma
35. “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.’” – Northanger Abbey
36. “They are much to be pitied who have not been given a taste for nature early in life.” — Mansfield Park
37. “We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.’” – Fanny, Mansfield Park
Summary
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