Jane Austen

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

At my time of life opinions are tolerably fixed. It is not likely that I should now see or hear anything to change them.

Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.

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 on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of ths surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

What dreadful weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance.

In all the important preparations of the mind she was complete: being prepared for matrimony by an hatred of home, restraint, and tranquillity; by the misery of disappointed affection, and contempt of the man she was to marry.

We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant sort of a man; but this would be nothing if you really liked him.

"Only a novel"... in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language.

You have delighted us long enough.

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

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

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

To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.

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

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife.

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.

Life is just a quick succession of busy nothings.

Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.

When any two young people take it into their heads to marry, they are pretty sure by perseverance to carry their point, be they ever so poor, or ever so imprudent, or ever so little likely to be necessary to each other's ultimate comfort.

A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.

One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.

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

You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.

How much I love every thing that is decided and open!

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.

A woman should never be trusted with money.

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

An artist cannot do anything slovenly.

I am excessively fond of music, but without the smallest skill or right of judging of anybody's performance.

Oh! dear; I was so miserable! I am sure I must have been as white as my gown.

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 some one or other of their daughters.

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 behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex.

Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously.... Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.

I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.

No one can be really esteemed accomplished who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with.

I have no pretensions whatever to that kind of elegance which consists in tormenting a respectable man.

How little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue.

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.

The more I know of the world, the more am I convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!

To be claimed as a good, though in an improper style, is at least better than being rejected as no good at all.

There is hardly any personal defect which an agreeable manner might not gradually reconcile one to.

An agreeable manner may set off handsome features, but can never alter plain ones.

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.

I can safely say, that the happiest part of my life has been spent on board a ship.

The only time I ever really suffered in body or mind, the only time that I ever fancied myself unwell, or had any ideas of danger, was the winter that I passed by myself. As long as we could be together, nothing ever ailed me, and I never met with the smallest inconvenience.

It was the misfortune of poetry to be seldom safely enjoyed by those who enjoyed it completely; and that the strong feelings which alone could estimate it truly were the very feelings which ought to taste it but sparingly.

A persuadable temper might sometimes be as much in favour of happiness as a very resolute character.

One man's ways may be as good as another's, but we all like our own best.

Everybody has their taste in noises as well as in other matters; and sounds are quite innoxious, or most distressing, by their sort rather than their quantity.

Family connexions were always worth preserving, good company always worth seeking.

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.

Good company requires only birth, education, and manners, and with regard to education is not very nice. Birth and good manners are essential; but a little learning is by no means a dangerous thing in good company; on the contrary, it will do very well.

How could it be? She watched, observed, reflected, and finally determined that this was not a case of fortitude or of resignation only. A submissive spirit might be patient, a strong understanding would supply resolution, but here was something more; here was that elasticity of mind, that disposition to be comforted, that power of turning readily from evil to good, and of finding employment which carried her out of herself, which was from nature alone. It was the choicest gift of Heaven.

Here and there, human nature may be great in times of trial; but generally speaking, it is its weakness and not its strength that appears in a sick chamber: it is selfishness and impatience rather than generosity and fortitude, that one hears of. There is so little real friendship in the world! and unfortunately, there are so many who forget to think seriously till it is almost too late.

She felt that she could so much more depend upon the sincerity of those who sometimes looked or said a careless or a hasty thing, than of those whose presence of mind never varied, whose tongue never slipped.

Knowing their feelings as she did, it was a most attractive picture of happiness to her. She always watched them as long as she could, delighted to fancy she understood what they might be talking of, as they walked along in happy independence, or equally delighted to see the Admiral's hearty shake of the hand when he encountered an old friend, and observe their eagerness of conversation when occasionally forming into a little knot of the navy, Mrs Croft looking as intelligent and keen as any of the officers around her.

One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering.

The stream is as good as at first; the little rubbish it collects in the turnings is easily moved away.

Facts or opinions which are to pass through the hands of so many, to be misconceived by folly in one, and ignorance in another, can hardly have much truth left.

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.

We certainly do not forget you as soon as you forget us. It is, perhaps, our fate rather than our merit. We cannot help ourselves. We live at home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us. You are forced on exertion. You have always a profession, pursuits, business of some sort or other, to take you back into the world immediately, and continual occupation and change soon weaken impressions. All the privilege I claim for my own sex (it is not a very enviable one; you need not covet it), is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone.

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

In every power, of which taste is the foundation, excellence is pretty fairly divided between the sexes.

Where so many hours have been spent in convincing myself that I am right, is there not some reason to fear I may be wrong?

Why not seize the pleasure at once, how often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparations.

One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.

We met Dr. Hall in such deep mourning that either his mother, his wife, or himself must be dead.

I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me that trouble of liking them.

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

I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them.

What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance.

A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.

I pay very little regard...to what any young person says on the subject of marriage. If they profess a disinclination for it, I only set it down that they have not yet seen the right person.

There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere.

Everybody likes to go their own way--to choose their own time and manner of devotion.

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.

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.

Where any one body of educated men, of whatever denomination, are condemned indiscriminately, there must be a deficiency of information, or...of something else.

If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the rest, I do think it is memory. There seems something more speakingly incomprehensible in the powers, the failures, the inequalities of memory, than in any other of our intelligences. The memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at others, so bewildered and so weak; and at others again, so tyrannic, so beyond control! We are, to be sure, a miracle every way; but our powers of recollecting and of forgetting do seem peculiarly past finding out.

One cannot fix one's eyes on the commonest natural production without finding food for a rambling fancy.

Nothing amuses me more than the easy manner with which everybody settles the abundance of those who have a great deal less than themselves.

The enthusiasm of a woman's love is even beyond the biographer's.

I cannot think well of a man who sports with any woman's feelings; and there may often be a great deal more suffered than a stander-by can judge of.

We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.

But when a young lady is to be a heroine, the perverseness of forty surrounding families cannot prevent her. Something must and will happen to throw a hero in her way.

Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.

One half of the world can not understand the pleasures of the other.

There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.