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It Is A Truth Universally Acknowledged, That A Single Man In Possession Of A Good Fortune, Must Be In Want Of A Wife. However Little Known The Feelings Or Views Of Such A Man May Be On His First Entering A Neighbourhood, This Truth Is So Well Fixed In The Minds Of The Surrounding Families, That He Is Considered As The Rightful Property Of Someone Or Other Of Their Daughters.

-Jane Austen

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It Is A Truth

Jane Austen

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It Is A Truth Universally Acknowledged, That A Single Man In Possession Of A Good Fortune, Must Be In Want Of A Wife. However Little Known The Feelings Or Views Of Such A Man May Be On His First Entering A Neighbourhood, This Truth Is So Well Fixed In The Minds Of The Surrounding Families, That He Is Considered As The Rightful Property Of Someone Or Other Of Their Daughters.

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Marriage Is Indeed A Maneuvering Business.

I Am Not Born To Sit Still And Do Nothing. If I Lose The Game, It Shall Not Be From Not Striving For It.

Now They Were As Strangers; Nay Worse Than Strangers, For They Could Never Become Acquainted.

Her Own Thoughts And Reflections Were Habitually Her Best Companions.

It Is Always Incomprehensible To A Man That A Woman Should Ever Refuse An Offer Of Marriage.

I Have Been A Selfish Being All My Life, In Practice, Though Not In Principle.

I Can Always Live By My Pen.

[i]t Is Well To Have As Many Holds Upon Happiness As Possible.

There Is Nothing Like Staying At Home For Real Comfort.

Run Mad As Often As You Choose, But Do Not Faint!

There Are People, Who The More You Do For Them, The Less They Will Do For Themselves.

Nothing Amuses Me More Than The Easy Manner With Which Everybody Settles The Abundance Of Those Who Have A Great Deal Less Than Themselves.

Mrs. Jennings Was A Widow, With An Ample Jointure. She Had Only Two Daughters, Both Of Whom She Had Lived To See Respectably Married, And She Had Now Therefore Nothing To Do But To Marry All The Rest Of The World.

Such A Letter Was Not To Be Soon Recovered From. . . . Every Moment Rather Brought Fresh Agitation. It Was An Overpowering Happiness.

Real Solemn History, I Cannot Be Interested In.... The Quarrels Of Popes And Kings, With Wars And Pestilences In Every Page; The Men All So Good For Nothing, And Hardly Any Women At All.

A Novel Must Show How The World Truly Is. Somehow, Reveals The True Source Of Our Actions.

I Always Deserve The Best Treatment Because I Never Put Up With Any Other.

Deserve The Best

I Have Always Maintained The Importance Of Aunts

They Were Within Twenty Yards Of Each Other, And So Abrupt Was His Appearance, That It Was Impossible To Avoid His Sight. Their Eyes Instantly Met, And The Cheeks Of Each Were Overspread With The Deepest Blush. He Absolutely Started, And For A Moment Seemed Immoveable From Surprise; But Shortly Recovering Himself, Advanced Towards The Party, And Spoke To Elizabeth, If Not In Terms Of Perfect Composure, At Least Of Perfect Civility.

There Are As Many Forms Of Love As There Are Moments In Time.

I Mean To Be Too Rich To Lament Or To Feel Anything Of The Sort. A Large Income Is The Best Recipe For Happiness I Ever Heard Of. It Certainly May Secure All The Myrtle And Turkey Part Of It.

The World May Know My Words, But It Has No Such Privileges With My Heart

They Gave Themselves Up Wholly To Their Sorrow, Seeking Increase Of Wretchedness In Every Reflection That Could Afford It, And Resolved Against Ever Admitting Consolation In Future.

There Was No Being Displeased With Such An Encourager, For His Admiration Made Him Discern A Likeness Before It Was Possible.

The Last Few Hours Were Certainly Very Painful," Replied Anne: "but When Pain Is Over, The Remembrance Of It Often Becomes A Pleasure. One Does Not Love A Place The Less For Having Suffered In It, Unless It Has Been All Suffering, Nothing But Suffering-

Where The Heart Is Really Attached, I Know Very Well How Little One Can Be Pleased With The Attention Of Any Body Else.

I Have Never Yet Found That The Advice Of A Sister Could Prevent A Young Man's Being In Love If He Chose It.

I Have Not The Pleasure Of Understanding You.

Everybody's Heart Is Open, You Know, When They Have Recently Escaped From Severe Pain, Or Are Recovering The Blessing Of Health.

We All Love To Instruct, Though We Can Teach Only What Is Not Worth Knowing.

It Is Very Difficult For The Prosperous To Be Humble.

Lady Middleton ... Exerted Herself To Ask Mr. Palmer If There Was Any News In The Paper. 'no, None At All,' He Replied, And Read On.

Pity Is For This Life, Pity Is The Worm Inside The Meat, Pity Is The Meat, Pity Is The Shaking Pencil, Pity Is The Shaking Voice-- Not Enough Money, Not Enough Love--pity For All Of Us--it Is Our Grace, Walking Down The Ramp Or On The Moving Sidewalk, Sitting In A Chair, Reading The Paper, Pity, Turning A Leaf To The Light, Arranging A Thorn.

It Is A Truth Universally Acknowledged, That A Single Man In Possession Of A Good Fortune, Must Be In Want Of A Wife. However Little Known The Feelings Or Views Of Such A Man May Be On His First Entering A Neighbourhood, This Truth Is So Well Fixed In The Minds Of The Surrounding Families, That He Is Considered As The Rightful Property Of Someone Or Other Of Their Daughters.

We Must Not Be So Ready To Fancy Ourselves Intentionally Injured. We Must Not Expect A Lively Young Man To Be Always So Guarded And Circumspect. It Is Very Often Nothing But Our Own Vanity That Deceives Us. Women Fancy Admiration Means More Than It Does.

He Is A Gentleman; I Am A Gentleman's Daughter; So Far We Are Equal.

He Was The Proudest, Most Disagreeable Man In The World, And Every Body Hoped That He Would Never Come There Again.

I Assure You. I Have No Notion Of Treating Men With Such Respect. That Is The Way To Spoil Them.

I Have Never Yet Known What It Was To Separate Esteem From Love

It Sometimes Happens That A Woman Is Handsomer At Twenty-nine Than She Was Ten Years Before.

Happiness In Marriage Is Entirely A Matter Of Chance.

An Agreeable Manner May Set Off Handsome Features, But Can Never Alter Plain Ones.

I Have Been Meditating On The Very Great Pleasure Which A Pair Of Fine Eyes In The Face Of A Pretty Woman Can Bestow.

Dear Diary, Today I Tried Not To Think About Mr. Knightly. I Tried Not To Think About Him When I Discussed The Menu With Cook... I Tried Not To Think About Him In The Garden Where I Thrice Plucked The Petals Off A Daisy To Ascertain His Feelings For Harriet. I Don't Think We Should Keep Daisies In The Garden, They Really Are A Drab Little Flower. And I Tried Not To Think About Him When I Went To Bed, But Something Had To Be Done.

To Begin Perfect Happiness At The Respective Ages Of 26 And 18 Is To Do Pretty Well.

Perfect Happiness

And From The Whole She Deduced This Useful Lesson, That To Go Previously Engaged To A Ball, Does Not Necessarily Increase Either The Dignity Or Enjoyment Of A Young Lady.

I Go Too Long Without Picking Up A Good Book, I Feel Like I've Done Nothing Useful With My Life.

Now I Must Give One Smirk And Then We May Be Rational Again

We Met Dr. Hall In Such Deep Mourning That Either His Mother, His Wife, Or Himself Must Be Dead.

I Am The Happiest Creature In The World. Perhaps Other People Have Said So Before, But Not One With Such Justice. I Am Happier Even Than Jane; She Only Smiles, I Laugh.

I Am Only Resolved To Act In That Manner, Which Will, In My Own Opinion, Constitute My Happiness, Without Reference To You, Or To Any Person So Wholly Unconnected With Me.

I Understand Crawford Paid You A Visit?" "yes." "and Was He Attentive?" "yes, Very." "and Has Your Heart Changed Towards Him?" "yes. Several Times. I Have - I Find That I - I Find That-" "shh. Surely You And I Are Beyond Speaking When Words Are Clearly Not Enough.... I Missed You." "and I You.

Dress Is At All Times A Frivolous Distinction, And Excessive Solicitude About It Often Destroys Its Own Aim.

If I Am Wrong, I Am Doing What I Believe To The Right.

The Evil Of The Actual Disparity In Their Ages (and Mr. Woodhouse Had Not Married Early) Was Much Increased By His Constitution And Habits; For Having Been A Valetudinarian All His Life, Without Activity Of Mind Or Body, He Was A Much Older Man In Ways Than In Years; And Though Everywhere Beloved For The Friendliness Of His Heart And His Amiable Temper, His Talents Could Not Have Recommended Him At Any Time.

I Am Determined That Only The Deepest Love Will Induce Me Into Matrimony. So... I Shall End An Old Maid, And Teach Your Ten Children To Embroider Cushions And Play Their Instruments Very Ill.

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.

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.

Falling In Love

Family Connexions Were Always Worth Preserving, Good Company Always Worth Seeking.

Yes," Replied Darcy, Who Could Contain Himself No Longer, "but That Was When I First Knew Her; For It Is Many Months Since I Have Considered Her As One Of The Handsomest Women Of My Acquaintance.

You Pierce My Soul. I Am Half Agony, Half Hope. Tell Me Not That I Am Too Late, That Such Precious Feelings Are Gone For Ever. I Offer Myself To You Again With A Heart Even More Your Own Than When You Almost Broke It, Eight And A Half Years Ago. Dare Not Say That A Man Forgets Sooner Than Woman, That His Love Has An Earlier Death. I Have Loved None But You. Unjust I May Have Been, Weak And Resentful I Have Been, But Never Inconstant.

It Is This Delightful Habit Of Journalizing Which Largely Contributes To Form The Easy Style Of Writing For Which Ladies Are So Generally Celebrated. Every Body Allows That The Talent Of Writing Is Particularly Female. Nature Might Have Done Something, But I Am Sure It Must Be Essentially Assisted By The Practice Of Keeping A Journal.

I Have Faults Enough, But They Are Not, I Hope, Of Understanding. My Temper I Dare Not Vouch For. It Is, I Believe, Too Little Yielding— Certainly Too Little For The Convenience Of The World. I Cannot Forget The Follies And Vices Of Other So Soon As I Ought, Nor Their Offenses Against Myself. My Feelings Are Not Puffed About With Every Attempt To Move Them. My Temper Would Perhaps Be Called Resentful. My Good Opinion Once Lost, Is Lost Forever.

Mr. Bennet's Expectations Were Fully Answered. His Cousin Was As Absurd As He Had Hoped, And He Listened To Him With The Keenest Enjoyment.

To Love Is To Burn, To Be On Fire.

There Is Nothing Like Employment, Active Indispensable Employment, For Relieving Sorrow. Employment, Even Melancholy, May Dispel Melancholy.

I Will Not Adopt That Ungenerous And Impolitic Custom So Common With Novel Writers, Of Degrading By Their Contemptuous Censure The Very Performances, To The Number Of Which They Are Themselves Adding?joining With Their Greatest Enemies In Bestowing The Harshest Epithets On Such Works, And Scarcely Ever Permitting Them To Be Read By Their Own Heroine, Who, If She Accidentally Take Up A Novel, Is Sure To Turn Over Its Insipid Leaves With Disgust.

If I Had Ever Learnt, I Should Have Been A Great Proficient.

My Idea Of Good Company Is The Company Of Clever, Well-informed People Who Have A Great Deal Of Conversation; That Is What I Call Good Company.

If People Like To Read Their Books, It Is All Very Well, But To Be At So Much Trouble In Filling Great Volumes, Which, As I Used To Think, Nobody Would Willingly Ever Look Into, To Be Labouring Only For The Torment Of Little Boys And Girls, Always Struck Me As A Hard Fate.

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.

A Man Who Has Nothing To Do With His Own Time Has No Conscience In His Intrusion On That Of Others.

Life Could Do Nothing For Her, Beyond Giving Time For A Better Preparation For Death.

Preparation For Death

... But He Recommended The Books Which Charmed Her Leisure Hours, He Encouraged Her Taste, And Corrected Her Judgment; He Made Reading Useful By Talking To Her Of What She Read, And Heightened Its Attraction By Judicious Praise.

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.

Critical Moments

It Is A Shocking Trick For A Young Person To Be Always Lolling Upon A Sofa.

One Half Of Her Should Not Be Always So Much Wiser Than The Other Half.

Where An Opinion Is General, It Is Usually Correct.

Beware How You Give Your Heart.

I Have Now Attained The True Art Of Letter-writing, Which We Are Always Told, Is To Express On Paper Exactly What One Would Say To The Same Person By Word Of Mouth.

Men Have Had Every Advantage Of Us In Telling Their Own Story. Education Has Been Theirs In So Much Higher A Degree; The Pen Has Been In Their Hands. I Will Not Allow Books To Prove Anything.

My Ideas Flow So Rapidly That I Have Not Time To Express Them──by Which Means My Letters Sometimes Convey No Ideas At All To My Correspondents.

There Is Something In The Eloquence Of The Pulpit, When It Is Really Eloquence, Which Is Entitled To The Highest Praise And Honour. The Preacher Who Can Touch And Affect Such An Heterogeneous Mass Of Hearers, On Subjects Limited, And Long Worn Thread-bare In All Common Hands; Who Can Say Any Thing New Or Striking, Any Thing That Rouses The Attention, Without Offending The Taste, Or Wearing Out The Feelings Of His Hearers, Is A Man Whom One Could Not (in His Public Capacity) Honour Enough.

You Were Disgusted With The Women Who Were Always Speaking And Looking, And Thinking For Your Approbation Alone. I Roused, And Interested You, Because I Was So Unlike Them.

It Was Absolutely Necessary To Interrupt Him Now.

People That Marry Can Never Part, But Must Go And Keep House Together. People That Dance Only Stand Opposite Each Other In A Long Room For Half An Hour.

It Is Particularly Incumbent On Those Who Never Change Their Opinion, To Be Secure Of Judging Properly At First.

Oh! Do Not Attack Me With Your Watch. A Watch Is Always Too Fast Or Too Slow. I Cannot Be Dictated To By A Watch.

A Vast Deal May Be Done By Those Who Dare To Act.

What A Shame, For I Dearly Love To Laugh.

I May Have Lost My Heart, But Not My Self-control.

I Have Read Your Book, And I Disapprove.

Indeed, I Am Very Sorry To Be Right In This Instance. I Would Much Rather Have Been Merry Than Wise.

There Are Certainly Not So Many Men Of Large Fortune In The World, As There Are Pretty Women To Deserve Them.

She Began Now To Comprehend That He Was Exactly The Man Who, In Disposition And Talents, Would Most Suit Her. His Understanding And Temper, Though Unlike Her Own, Would Have Answered All Her Wishes. It Was An Union That Must Have Been To The Advantage Of Both: By Her Ease And Liveliness, His Mind Might Have Been Softened, His Manners Improved; And From His Judgement, Information, And Knowledge Of The World, She Must Have Received Benefit Of Greater Importance.

None Of Us Want To Be In Calm Waters All Our Lives.

There Were Several Battles Between The Yorkists And The Lancastrians, In Which The Former (as They Ought) Usually Won.

Wickedness Is Always Wickedness, But Folly Is Not Always Folly.

There Is Hardly Any Personal Defect... Which An Agreeable Manner Might Not Gradually Reconcile One To.

That Is What I Like; That Is What A Young Man Ought To Be. Whatever Be His Pursuits, His Eagerness In Them Should Know No Moderation, And Leave Him No Sense Of Fatigue.

If The Heroine Of One Novel Be Not Patronized By The Heroine Of Another, From Whom Can She Expect Protection And Regard?

She Wished Such Words Unsaid With All Her Heart

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.

It Is Better To Know As Little As Possible Of The Defects Of The Person With Whom You Are To Pass Your Life.

Personal Size And Mental Sorrow Have Certainly No Necessary Proportions. A Large Bulky Figure Has A Good A Right To Be In Deep Affliction, As The Most Graceful Set Of Limbs In The World. But, Fair Or Not Fair, There Are Unbecoming Conjunctions, Which Reason Will Pa Tronize In Vain,--which Taste Cannot Tolerate,--which Ridicule Will Seize.

I Consider A Country-dance As An Emblem Of Marriage. Fidelity And Complaisance Are The Principle Duties Of Both; And Those Men Who Do Not Choose To Dance Or To Marry Them Selves, Have No Business With The Partners Or Wives Of The Neighbors.

I Should Not Mind Anything At All.

That You Seemed Almost As Fearful Of Notice And Praise As Other Women Were Of Neglect. (edmund To Fanny)

I Wish, As Well As Everybody Else, To Be Perfectly Happy; But, Like Everybody Else, It Must Be In My Own Way.

I Never Could Be So Happy As You. Till I Have Your Disposition, Your Goodness, I Never Can Have Your Happiness.

I Wrote Without Much Effort; For I Was Rich, And The Rich Are Always Respectable, Whatever Be Their Style Of Writing.

A Person Who Is Knowingly Bent On Bad Behavior, Gets Upset When Better Behavior Is Expected Of Them.

In A Letter From Bath To Her Sister, Cassandra, One Senses Her Frustration At Her Sheltered Existence, Tuesday, 12 May 1801. Another Stupid Party . . . With Six People To Look On, And Talk Nonsense To Each Other.

I Will Not Say That Your Mulberry Trees Are Dead; But I Am Afraid They're Not Alive.

She Had Nothing To Do But To Forgive Herself And Be Happier Than Ever.

Better Be Without Sense Than Misapply It As You Do.

She Would Have Liked To Know How He Felt As To A Meeting. Perhaps Indifferent, If Indifference Could Exist Under Such Circumstances. He Must Be Either Indifferent Or Unwilling. Has He Wished Ever To See Her Again, He Need Not Have Waited Till This Time; He Would Have Done What She Could Not But Believe That In His Place She Should Have Done Long Ago, When Events Had Been Early Giving Him The Indepencence Which Alone Had Been Wanting.

I Have Often Observed That Resignation Is Never So Perfect As When The Blessing Denied Begins To Lose Somewhat Of Its Value In Our Eyes.

Nothing Ever Fatigues Me, But Doing What I Do Not Like.

What Praise Is More Valuable Than The Praise Of An Intelligent Servant?

A Single Woman, Of Good Fortune, Is Always Respectable, And May Be As Sensible And Pleasant As Any Body Else.

Mr. Darcy Began To Feel The Danger Of Paying Elizabeth Too Much Attention.

A Natural Sequel Of An Unnatural Beginning.

To Wish Was To Hope, And To Hope Was To Expect

Human Nature Is So Well Disposed Towards Those Who Are In Interesting Situations, That A Young Person, Who Either Marries Or Dies, Is Sure Of Being Kindly Spoken Of.

Interesting Situations

I Am Going To Take A Heroine Whom No One But Myself Will Much Like

Ah, Mother! How Do You Do?' Said He, Giving Her A Hearty Shake Of The Hand; 'where Did You Get That Quiz Of A Hat? It Makes You Look Like An Old Witch...' On His Two Younger Sisters He Then Bestowed An Equal Portion Of His Fraternal Tenderness, For He Asked Each Of Them How They Did, And Observed That They Both Looked Very Ugly.

Every Moment Had Its Pleasure And Its Hope.

The More I See Of The World, The More Am I Dissatisfied With It; And Everyday Confirms My Belief Of The Inconsistencies Of All Human.

The Truth Is, That In London It Is Always A Sickly Season. Nobody Is Healthy In London, Nobody Can Be.

May I Ask You What These Questions Tend?' 'merely To The Illustration Of Your Character,' Said She, Endeavouring To Shake Off Her Gravity. 'i Am Trying To Make It Out.' 'and What Is Your Success?' She Shook Her Head. 'i Do Not Get On At All. I Hear Such Different Accounts Of You As Puzzle Me Exceedingly.

Those Who Do Not Complain Are Never Pitied.

It Is Very Often Nothing But Our Own Vanity That Deceives Us. Women Fancy Admiration Means More Than It Does. And Men Take Care That They Should.

Nobody, Who Has Not Been In The Interior Of A Family, Can Say What The Difficulties Of Any Individual Of That Family May Be.

We Do Not Suffer By Accident.

A Woman Of Seven And Twenty, Said Marianne, After Pausing A Moment, Can Never Hope To Feel Or Inspire Affection Again.

She Tried To Be Calm, And Leave Things To Take Their Course; And Tried To Dwell Much On This Argument Of Rational Dependence – “surely, If There Be Constant Attachment On Each Side, Our Hearts Must Understand Each Other Ere Long. We Are Not Boy And Girl, To Be Captiously Irritable, Misled By Every Moment’s Inadvertence, And Wantonly Playing With Our Own Happiness.” And Yet, A Few Minutes Afterwards, She Felt As If Their Being In Company With Each Other, Under Their Present Circumstances, Could Only Be Exposing Them To Inadvertencies And Misconstructions Of The Most Mischievous Kind.

By The Bye, As I Must Leave Off Being Young, I Find Many Douceurs In Being A Sort Of Chaperon , For I Am Put On The Sofa Near The Fire And Can Drink As Much Wine As I Like.

She Attracted Him More Than He Liked.

And What Am I To Do On The Occasion? -- It Seems An Hopeless Business.

Men Were Put Into The World To Teach Women The Law Of Compromise.

The Longer They Were Together The More Doubtful Seemed The Nature Of His Regard, And Sometimes For A Few Painful Minutes She Believed It To Be No More Than Friendship

Marianne Dashwood Was Born To An Extraordinary Fate. She Was Born To Discover The Falsehood Of Her Own Opinions, And To Counteract, By Her Conduct, Her Most Favourite Maxims.

How Wonderful, How Very Wonderful The Operations Of Time, And The Changes Of The Human Mind!

She Knew That What Marianne And Her Mother Conjectured One Moment, They Believed The Next: That With Them, To Wish Was To Hope, And To Hope Was To Expect.

It Is Not Every Man's Fate To Marry The Woman Who Loves Him Best

Happiness In Marriage Is Entirely A Matter Of Chance. If The Dispositions Of The Parties Are Ever So Well Known To Each Other Or Ever So Similar Beforehand, It Does Not Advance Their Felicity In The Least. They Always Continue To Grow Sufficiently Unlike Afterwards To Have Their Share Of Vexation; And It Is Better To Know As Little As Possible Of The Defects Of The Person With Whom You Are To Pass Your Life.

It Will, I Believe, Be Everywhere Found, That As The Clergy Are, Or Are Not What They Ought To Be, So Are The Rest Of The Nation.

From Politics It Was An Easy Step To Silence.

About Thirty Years Ago, Miss Maria Ward Of Huntingdon, With Only Seven Thousand Pounds, Had The Good Luck To Captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, Of Mansfield Park, In The County Of Northampton, And To Be Thereby Raised To The Rank Of A Baronet's Lady, With All The Comforts And Consequences Of An Handsome House And Large Income.

What Strange Creatures Brothers Are!

I Do Suspect That He Is Not Really Necessary To My Happiness.

The Person, Be It Gentleman Or Lady, Who Has Not Pleasure In A Good Novel, Must Be Intolerably Stupid.

Reflection Must Be Reserved For Solitary Hours; Whenever She Was Alone, She Gave Way To It As The Greatest Relief; And Not A Day Went By Without A Solitary Walk, In Which She Might Indulge In All The Delight Of Unpleasant Recollections.

Had I Not Been Bound To Silence I Could Have Provided Proof Enough Of A Broken Heart, Even For You.

I Read It [history] A Little As A Duty, But It Tells Me Nothing That Does Not Either Vex Or Weary Me. The Quarrels Of Popes And Kings, With Wars Or Pestilences, In Every Page; The Men All So Good For Nothing, And Hardly Any Women At All — It Is Very Tiresome: And Yet I Often Think It Odd That It Should Be So Dull, For A Great Deal Of It Must Be Invention.

We Do Not Look In Great Cities For Our Best Morality.

Nobody Minds Having What Is Too Good For Them.

Let Other Pens Dwell On Guilt And Misery.

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. There Is So Much Of Gratitude Or Vanity In Almost Any Attachment, That It Is Not Safe To Leave Any To Itself. We Can All Begin ‘freely’- As Light Preference Is Natural Enough; But There Are Very Few Of Us Who Have A Heart Enough To Be Really In Love Without Encouragement.

A Man Always Imagines A Woman To Be Ready For Anybody Who Asks Her.

Where Youth And Diffidence Are United, It Requires Uncommon Steadiness Of Reason To Resist The Attraction Of Being Called The Most Charming Girl In The World.

Silly Things Do Cease To Be Silly If They Are Done By Sensible People In An Impudent Way.

I Could Not Be Happy With A Man Whose Taste Did Not In Every Point Coincide With My Own. He Must Enter In All My Feelings; The Same Books, The Same Music Must Charm Us Both.

Is Not Poetry The Food Of Love?

It Is Wonderful, For Almost All His Actions May Be Traced To Pride;-and Pride Has Often Been His Best Friend.

[mrs. Allen Was] Never Satisfied With The Day Unless She Spent The Chief Of It By The Side Of Mrs. Thorpe, In What They Called Conversation, But In Which There Was Scarcely Ever Any Exchange Of Opinion, And Not Often Any Resemblance Of Subject, For Mrs. Thorpe Talked Chiefly Of Her Children, And Mrs. Allen Of Her Gowns.

His Own Enjoyment, Or His Own Ease, Was, In Every Particular, His Ruling Principle.

Pray, Pray Be Composed, And Do Not Betray What You Feel To Every Body Present

One Has Not Great Hopes From Birmingham. I Always Say There Is Something Direful In The Sound.

Oh, Lizzy! Do Anything Rather Than Marry Without Affection.

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.

What Do You Know Of My Heart? What Do You Know Of Anything But Your Own Suffering. For Weeks, Marianne, I've Had This Pressing On Me Without Being At Liberty To Speak Of It To A Single Creature. It Was Forced On Me By The Very Person Whose Prior Claims Ruined All My Hope. I Have Endured Her Exultations Again And Again Whilst Knowing Myself To Be Divided From Edward Forever. Believe Me, Marianne, Had I Not Been Bound To Silence I Could Have Provided Proof Enough Of A Broken Heart, Even For You.

A Person Who Can Write A Long Letter With Ease, Cannot Write Ill.

A Scheme Of Which Every Part Promises Delight, Can Never Be Successful; And General Disappointment Is Only Warded Off By The Defence Of Some Little Peculiar Vexation.

Your Countenance Perfectly Informs Me That You Were In Company Last Night With The Person, Whom You Think The Most Agreeable In The World, The Person Who Interests You At This Present Time, More Than All The Rest Of The World Put Together.

My Heart Is, And Always Will Be, Yours.

... Professing Myself Moreover Convinced That The General's Unjust Interference, So Far From Being Really Injurious To Their Felicity, Was Perhaps Rather Conducive To It, By Improving Their Knowledge Of Each Other, And Adding Strength To Their Attachment, 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.

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.

General Benevolence, But Not General Friendship, Made A Man What He Ought To Be.

Lost Friendship

It Is A Truth Universally Acknowledged, That A Single Man In Possession Of A Good Fortune, Must Be In Want Of A Wife.

…but Then I Am Unlike Other People I Dare Say.

'my Fingers,' Said Elizabeth, 'do Not Move Over This Instrument In The Masterly Manner Which I See So Many Woman's Do. They Have Not The Same Force Of Rapidity And Do Not Possess The Same Expression. But Then I Have Always Supposed It To Be My Own Fault - Because I Would Not Take The Trouble Of Practicing. It Is Not That I Do Not Believe My Fingers As Capable As Any Other Woman's Of Superior Execution.' Darcy Smiled And Said, 'you Are Perfectly Right.'

Oh! Write, Write. Finish It At Once. Let There Be An End Of This Suspense. Fix, Commit, Condemn Yourself.

One Half Of The World Cannot Understand The Pleasures Of The Other.

What! Would I Be Turned Back From Doing A Thing That I Had Determined To Do, And That I Knew To Be Right, By The Airs And Interference Of Such A Person, Or Any Person I May Say? No, I Have No Idea Of Being So Easily Persuaded. When I Have Made Up My Mind, I Have Made It.

I Am Afraid That The Pleasantness Of An Employment Does Not Always Evince Its Propriety.

No Man Is Offended By Another Man's Admiration Of The Woman He Loves; It Is The Woman Only Who Can Make It A Torment.

I Am Sorry To Tell You That I Am Getting Very Extravagant And Spending All My Money: And What Is Worse For You, I Have Been Spending Yours Too.

The Ladies Here Probably Exchanged Looks Which Meant, 'men Never Know When Things Are Dirty Or Not;' And The Gentlemen Perhaps Thought Each To Himself, 'women Will Have Their Little Nonsense And Needless Cares.'

I Think I May Boast Myself To Be, With All Possible Vanity, The Most Unlearned And Uninformed Female Who Ever Dared To Be An Authoress.

Laugh As Much As You Choose, But You Will Not Laugh Me Out Of My Opinion.

Nothing Is More Deceitful Than The Appearance Of Humility.

A Very Narrow Income Has A Tendency To Contract The Mind, And Sour The Temper. Those Who Can Barely Live, And Who Live Perforce In A Very Small, And Generally Very Inferior, Society, May Well Be Illiberal And Cross.

I Wish I Might Take This For A Compliment; But To Be So Easily Seen Through I Am Afraid Is Pitiful.

Her Eye Fell Everywhere On Lawns And Plantations Of The Freshest Green; And The Trees, Though Not Fully Clothed, Were In That Delightful State When Farther Beauty Is Known To Be At Hand, And When, While Much Is Actually Given To The Sight, More Yet Remains For The Imagination.

Lovely & Too Charming Fair One, Notwithstanding Your Forbidding Squint, Your Greazy Tresses & Your Swelling Back, Which Are More Frightful Than Imagination Can Paint Or Pen Describe, I Cannot Refrain From Expressing My Raptures, At The Engaging Qualities Of Your Mind, Which So Amply Atone For The Horror, With Which Your First Appearance Must Ever Inspire The Unwary Visitor.

An Interval Of Meditation, Serious And Grateful, Was The Best Corrective Of Everything Dangerous.

Elinor Agreed With It All, For She Did Not Think He Deserved The Compliment Of Rational Opposition.

What Are You Thinking Of So Earnestly?" Said He, As They Walked Back To The Ballroom; "not Of Your Partner, I Hope, For, By That Shake Of The Head, Your Meditations Are Not Satisfactory." Catherine Coloured, And Said, "i Was Not Thinking Of Anything." That Is Artful And Deep, To Be Sure; But I Had Rather Be Told At Once That You Will Not Tell Me." Well Then, I Will Not." Thank You; For Now We Shall Soon Be Acquainted, As I Am Authorized To Tease You On This Subject Whenever We Meet, And Nothing In The World Advances Intimacy So Much.

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