A Collection Of Jane Austen's Quotes

A Smattering of Jane Austen Quotes

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

 ‘Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure.’ Mansfield Park

The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.’ Northanger Abbey

To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.’ Pride and Prejudice

 ‘Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.’ Mansfield Park

 ‘A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.’ Pride and Prejudice

 ‘There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.’ Pride and Prejudice

‘Nobody minds having what is too good for them.’ Mansfield Park

 ‘A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.’ Mansfield Park

‘Is not general incivility the very essence of love?’ Pride and Prejudice

‘Nothing ever fatigues me, but doing what I do not like.’ Mansfield Park

‘You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.’ Pride and Prejudice

 ‘Those who do not complain are never pitied.’ Pride and Prejudice

‘It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.’ Sense and Sensibility

 ‘How quick come the reasons for approving what we like!’ Persuasion

 ‘There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.’ Emma

‘For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours and laugh at them in our turn?’ Pride and Prejudice

‘To flatter and follow others, without being flattered and followed in turn, is but a state of half enjoyment.’ Persuasion

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

‘Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion.’ Pride and Prejudice

 ‘There are certainly not so many men of large fortune in the world, as there are pretty women to deserve them.’ Mansfield Park

 ‘I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other.’ Emma

 ‘My sore throats are always worse than anyone’s.’ Persuasion

‘Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then. It is something to think of.’ Pride and Prejudice

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

“There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.”
–Emma

“You must be the best judge of your own happiness.” 
–Emma

“Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief.” 
–Emma

 “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.” 
–Emma

 “Do not give way to useless alarm; though it is right to be prepared for the worst, there is no occasion to look on it as certain.” 
–Pride and Prejudice

 “Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable.” 
–Emma

I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.” — Personal correspondence

There are as many forms of love as there are moments in time.” — Personal correspondence

“An engaged woman is always more agreeable than a disengaged. She is satisfied with herself. Her cares are over, and she feels that she may exert all her powers of pleasing without suspicion. All is safe with a lady engaged; no harm can be done”.  Jane Austen

The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid. Jane Austen

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

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

Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief.   Jane Austen