Quotes & Sayings About Austen

Remember," cried Willoughby, "from whom you received the account. Could it be an impartial one? I acknowledge that her situation and character ought to have been respected by me. I do not mean to justify myself, but at the same time cannot leave you to suppose that I have nothing to urge
that because she was injured, she was irreproachable, and because I was a libertine, she must be a saint ... — Jane Austen

But I hate to hear you talking so like a fine gentleman, and as if women were all fine ladies, instead of rational creatures. We none of us expect to be in smooth water all our days. — Jane Austen

I have none of the usual inducements of women to marry. Were I to fall in love, indeed, it would be a different thing! but I never have 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 be a fool to change such a situation as mine. Fortune I do not want; employment I do not want; consequence I do not want. — Jane Austen

Insufferable woman!" was her immediate exclamation. "Worse than I had supposed. Absolutely insufferable! Knightley! - I could not have believed it. Knightley! - never seen him in her life before, and call him Knightley! - and discover that he is a gentleman! — Jane Austen

I mentioned early in this book the kind of rereading distinctive of a fan
the Tolkien addict, say, or the devotee of Jane Austen or Trollope or the Harry Potter books. The return to such books is often motivated by a desire to dwell for a time in a self-contained fictional universe, with its own boundaries and its own rules. (It is a moot question whether Austen and Trollope's first readers were drawn to their novels for these reasons, but their readers today often are.) Such rereading is not purely a matter of escapism, even though that is one reason for its attraction: we should note that it's not what readers are escaping from but that they are escaping into that counts most. Most of us do not find fictional worlds appealing because we find our own lives despicable, though censorious people often make that assumption. Auden once wrote that "there must always be ... escape-art, for man needs escape as he needs food and deep sleep." The sleeper does not disdain consciousness. — Alan Jacobs

Not all that Mrs. Bennet, however, with the assistance of her five daughters, could ask on the subject, was sufficient to draw from her husband any satisfactory description of Mr. Bingley. They attacked him in various ways - with barefaced questions, ingenious suppositions, and distant surmises; but he eluded the skill of them all, and they were at last obliged to accept the second-hand intelligence of their neighbour, Lady Lucas. Her report was highly favourable. Sir William had been delighted with him. He was quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely agreeable, and, to crown the whole, he meant to be at the next assembly with a large party. Nothing could be more delightful! To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love; and very lively hopes of Mr. Bingley's heart were entertained. — Jane Austen

She regained the street
happy in this, that though much had been forced on her against her will, though she had in fact heard the whole substance of Jane Fairfax's letter, she had been able to escape the letter itself. — Jane Austen

Mr. Bingley and Jane remained at Netherfield only a twelvemonth. So near a vicinity to her mother and Meryton — Jane Austen

Jane Austen, who is said to be Shakespearian, never reminds us of Shakespeare, I think, in her full-dress portraits, but she does so in characters such as Miss Bates and Mrs. Allen. — A. C. Bradley

And this,' said she, 'is the end of all his friend's anxious circumspection! of all his sister's falsehood and contrivance! The happiest, wisest, most reasonable end! — Jane Austen

For what could a silent man of five-and-thirty hope, when opposed to a very lively one of five-and-twenty? — Jane Austen

My playing is no more like her's, than a lamp is like sunshine. — Jane Austen

Jane Austen writes about these humdrum lives with such empathy that they seem endlessly fascinating — Mark Haddon

I have read your book, and I disapprove. — Jane Austen

Letters are no matter of indifference; they are generally a very positive curse. — Jane Austen

My role models were childless: Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, George Eliot, the Brontes. — Joyce Carol Oates

We can all begin freely - a slight preference is natural enough; but there are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement. In — Jane Austen

If I am missed it will appear. I may be discovered by those who want to see me. I shall not be in any doubtful, or distant, or unapproachable region. — Jane Austen

This was a letter to be run through eagerly, to be read deliberately, to supply matter for much reflection, and to leave everything in greater suspense than ever. — Jane Austen

She felt the loss of Willoughby's character yet more heavily than she had felt the loss of his heart. — Jane Austen

had my share of beauty, but I do not pretend to be anything extraordinary now. When a woman has five grown-up daughters, — Jane Austen

All the overpowering blinding, bewildering, first effects of strong surprise were over with her. Still, however, she had enough to feel! It was agitation, pain, pleasure, a something between delight and misery. — Jane Austen

For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn? — Jane Austen

I fancy Miss Price has been more used to deserve praise than to hear it ... — Jane Austen

Anne entered it with a sinking heart, anticipating an imprisonment of many months, and anxiously saying to herself, "Oh! when shall I leave you again? — Jane Austen

When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library - Caroline Bingley — Jane Austen

Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls! — Jane Austen

But while the imaginations of other people will carry them away to form wrong judgements of our conduct, and to decide on it by slight appearances, one's happiness must in some measure be always at the mercy of chance. — Jane Austen

Before I could reply, he had picked me up, literally swept me off my feet, and kissed me. And afterwards, when I tried to speak, he silenced me in much the same manner. It was a shock (but not at all distasteful) to be so caught up. Later - when he at last set me down - he handled me more gently. He took of my glasses and told me that he loved me. — Jennifer Paynter

Man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known — Jane Austen

Her tears fell abundantly
but her grief was so truly artless, that no dignity could have made it more respectable in Emma's eyes
and she listened to her and tried to console her with all her heart and understanding
really for the time convinced that Harriet was the superior creature of the two
and that to resemble her would be more for her own welfare and happiness than all that genius or intelligence could do.
It was rather too late in the day to set about being simple-minded and ignorant; but she left her with every previous resolution confirmed of being humble and discreet, and repressing imagination all the rest of her life. — Jane Austen

Elizabeth received them with all the forbearance of civility — Jane Austen

To have been described long ago to a recent acquaintance by nameless people is irresistible. — Jane Austen

I wondered if there were ever times when Dad didn't sound like he escaped from a Jane Austen novel. — Rachel Hawkins

I was in the middle before I knew I had begun. — Jane Austen

Just the omission of Jane Austen's books alone would make a fairly good library out of a library that hadn't a book in it. — Mark Twain

Here I am once more in this scene of dissipation and vice, and I begin already to find my morals corrupted.
Jane Austen's Letters August 1796 — Jane Austen

And no other attempt made at secrecy than Mrs. Norris's talking of it everywhere as a matter not to be talked of at present. — Jane Austen

I certainly must,' said she. 'This sensation of listlessness, weariness, stupidity, this disinclination to sit down and employ myself, this feeling of everything's being dull and insipid about the house! I must be in love; I should be the oddest creature in the world if I were not. — Jane Austen

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 — Jane Austen

And they soon drew from those inquiries the full conviction that one of them at least knew what it was to love. Of the lady's sensations they remained a little in doubt; but that the gentleman was overflowing with admiration was evident enough. — Jane Austen

By reading only six hours a-day, I shall gain in the course of a twelve-month a great deal of instruction which I now feel myself to want. — Jane Austen

Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised or a little mistaken. — Jane Austen

He looks miserable poor soul! — Jane Austen

After making this long and successful journey, you are not going to let someone bring you down by emotional bullying or manipulation. Give everyone an opportunity to be a friend, but choose only those who create a thriving environment. — Kaylyn Austen

Elinor," cried Marianne, "is this fair? is this just? are my ideas so scanty? But I see what you mean. I have been too much at my ease, too happy, too frank. I have erred against every common-place notion of decorum; I have been open and sincere where I ought to have been reserved, spiritless, dull, and deceitful:- had I talked only of the weather and the roads, and had I spoken only once in ten minutes, this reproach would have been spared. — Jane Austen

The whole story would have been speedily formed under her active imagination; and every thing established in the most melancholy order of disastrous love — Jane Austen

She played a great deal better than either of the Miss Musgroves; but having no voice, no knowledge of the harp, and no fond parents to sit by and fancy themselves delighted, her performance was little thought of, only out of civility, or to refresh the others, as she was well aware. She knew that when she played she was giving pleasure only to herself; but this was no new sensation: excepting one short period of her life, she had never, since the age of fourteen, never since the loss of her dear mother, know the happiness of being listened to, or encouraged by any just appreciation or real taste. In music she had been always used to feel alone in the world; and Mr. and Mrs. Musgrove's fond partiality for their own daughters' performance, and total indifference to any other person's, gave her much more pleasure for their sakes, than mortification for her own. — Jane Austen

It is always easy to question the judgement of others in matters of which we may be imperfectly informed. — P.D. James

Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. — Jane Austen

In revolving these matters, while she undressed, it suddenly struck her as not unlikely, that she might that morning have passed near the very spot of this unfortunate woman's confinement - might have been within a few paces of the cell in which she languished out her days; for what part of the Abbey could be more fitted for the purpose than that which yet bore the traces of monastic division? — Jane Austen

The futility of something is not always (in love and in politics) a sufficient argument against it — Jane Austen

I see your face in my mind's eye under every varying circumstance of the day. — Jane Austen

It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before. — Jane Austen

It would not be easy, indeed, to catch their expression, but their colour and shape, and the eyelashes, so remarkably fine, might be copied. — Jane Austen

She had seen too much of the world, to expect sudden or disinterested attachment anywhere, — Jane Austen

She was feeling, thinking, trembling about everything; agitated, happy, miserable, infinitely obliged, absolutely angry. — Jane Austen

It isn't what we say or think that defines us, but what we do. — Jane Austen

Elizabeth Bennet: And that put paid to it. I wonder who first discovered the power of poetry in driving away love?
Mr. Darcy: I thought that poetry was the food of love.
Elizabeth Bennet: Of a fine stout love, it may. But if it is only a vague inclination I'm convinced one poor sonnet will kill it stone dead
Mr. Darcy: So what do you recommend to encourage affection?
Elizabeth Bennet: Dancing. Even if one's partner is barely tolerable. — Jane Austen

Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted? — Jane Austen

Where he could think with pleasure of his own importance, and, — Jane Austen

Peter.' It was the first time I had used his name. 'You heard me sing tonight, did you not?'
'Yes, love.'
The endearment took my breath away - made me forget what I meant to say. I stood there with but one thought: He must care about me. — Jennifer Paynter

But remember that the pain of parting from friends will be felt by every body at times, whatever be their education or state. — Jane Austen

Those who have not more must be satisfied with what they have. — Jane Austen

I imagined being a famous writer would be like being like Jane Austen. — J.K. Rowling

To say that he is unlike Fanny is enough. It implies everything amiable. I love him already. — Jane Austen

The combination of the Liberal and Labour Parties is much stronger than the Liberal Party would be if there were no third Party in existence. Many men who would in that case have voted for us voted on this occasion as the Labour Party told them i.e. for the Liberals. The Labour Party has "come to stay" ... the existence of the third Party deprives us of the full benefits of the 'swing of the pendulum', introduces a new element into politics and confronts us with a new difficulty. — Austen Chamberlain

An egg boiled very soft is not unwholesome. — Jane Austen

Do you not want to know who has taken it? cried his wife impatiently. — Jane Austen

I may have lost my heart, but not my self-control. — Jane Austen

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

...to be able to impose on the public in such a case; but it is sometimes a disadvantage to be so very guarded. If a woman conceals her affection with the same skill from the object of it, she may lose the opportunity of fixing him; and it will then be but poor consolation to believe the world equally in the dark. — Jane Austen

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

What had she have to wish for? Nothing but to grow more worthy of him whose intentions and judgment had been ever so superior to her own. — Jane Austen

That loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable-- that one false step involves her in endless ruin-- that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful-- and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behavior towards the undeserving of the opposite sex." ~Mary Bennett, P&P — Jane Austen

Well, here we are at the passage. Two steps, Jane, take care of the two steps. Oh! no, there is but one. Well, I was persuaded there were two. How very odd! I was convinced there were two, and there is but one. — Jane Austen

Facts are such horrid things! — Jane Austen

Power is never taken from us. It is only given away," Austen said softly. — Kirsten Beyer

Charlotte Palmer is no sillier than Harriet Smith; and yet, how intolerable we should find it to see and hear as much of Charlotte as we do of Harriet! And would Miss Bates have been endurable if she had been presented in the mood and manners of Sense and Sensibility? — Mary Lascelles

Shyness is only the effect of a sense of inferiority in some way or other. — Jane Austen

But her mind was so busily engaged, that she did not always know when she was silent. — Jane Austen

I'm ill qualified to recommend myself to strangers. Mr. Darcy — Jane Austen

From all that I can collect by your manner of talking, you must be two of the silliest girls in the country. I have suspected it some time, but I am now convinced. — Jane Austen

And you are never to stir out of doors till you can prove that you have spent ten minutes of every day in a rational manner. — Jane Austen

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

The loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable - that one false step involves in her endless ruin - that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful - and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behavior towards the undeserving of the opposite sex. — Jane Austen

I leave it to be settled, by whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny, or reward filial disobedience. — Jane Austen

Let us never underestimate the power of a well-written letter. — Karen Joy Fowler

Time, time will heal the wound. — Jane Austen

You are infinitely my superior in merit; all that I know - You have qualities which I had not supposed to exist in such a degree in any human creature. You have some touches of the angel in you, beyond what - not merely beyond what one sees, because one never sees any thing like it - but beyond what one fancies might be. But still I am not frightened. It is not by equality of merit that you can be won. That is out of the question. It is he who sees and worships your merit the strongest, who loves you most devotedly, that has the best right to a return. (326) — Jane Austen

It is indolence ... Indolence and love of ease; a want of all laudable ambition, of taste for good company, or of inclination to take the trouble of being agreeable, which make men clergymen. A clergyman has nothing to do but be slovenly and selfish; read the newspaper, watch the weather, and quarrel with his wife. His curate does all the work and the business of his own life is to dine. — Jane Austen

How I hate the sight of an umbrella! — Jane Austen

Lady Sondes' match surprises, but does not offend me; had her
first marriage been of affection, or had their been a grown-updaughter, I should not have forgiven her; but I consider
everybody as having a right to marry once in their lives for
love, if they can. — Jane Austen

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! — Jane Austen

Once I started writing the screenplay of 'Bride & Prejudice,' I was convinced Jane Austen was a Punjabi in her previous birth. — Gurinder Chadha

You judge very properly," said Mr. Bennet, "and it is happy for you that you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy. May I ask whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment, or are the result of previous study?"
"They arise chiefly from what is passing at the time, and thought I sometimes amuse myself with suggesting and arranging such little elegant compliments as may be adapted to ordinary occasions, I always wish to give them as unstudied an air as possible."
Mr. Bennet's expectations were fully answered. His cousin was as absurd as he had hoped, and he listened with the keenest enjoyment, maintaining at the same time the most resolute composure of countenance, and except in an occasional glance at Elizabeth, requiring no partner in his pleasure. — Jane Austen

You must really begin to harden yourself to the idea of being worth looking at. — Jane Austen

Could there be finer symptoms? Is not general incivility the very essence of love? — Jane Austen

The latest gorgeous entry in the Belknap Press' growing library of annotated Jane Austen novels arrives, this time the mighty Emma under the exactingly careful guidance of Bharat Tandon of the University of East Anglia. Belknap has once again done its end of the job superbly: the book is a physical treat-luxuriantly over-sized, heavy with quality paper and solid binding, decked out in a beautiful cover and dozens of well-chosen illustrations throughout. This is one of the prettiest Jane Austen volumes available in bookstoresthis season. — Steve Donoghue

Elizabeth related to Jane the next day what had passed between Mr. Wickham and herself. Jane listened with astonishment and concern; she knew not how to believe that Mr. Darcy could be so unworthy of Mr. Bingley's regard; and yet, it was not in her nature to question the veracity of a young man of such amiable appearance as Wickham. The possibility of his having endured such unkindness, was enough to interest all her tender feelings; and nothing remained therefore to be done, but to think well of them both, to defend the conduct of each, and throw into the account of accident or mistake whatever could not be otherwise explained. — Jane Austen