Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English novelist known for her witty social commentary and insightful portrayals of the lives of the British gentry. Her works, including “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility,” remain beloved classics, exploring themes of love, marriage, and societal expectations with keen observation and timeless appeal.
Jane Austen Quotes
“You must be the best judge of your own happiness.”
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.”
“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.”
“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book!”
“A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment.”
“To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.”
“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.”
“It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage.”
“Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.”
“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
“There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.”
“I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way.”
“One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.”
“A woman, especially if she has the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can.”
“Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.”
“To flatter and follow others, without being flattered and followed in turn, is but a state of half enjoyment.”
“A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.”
“Business, you know, may bring you money, but friendship hardly ever does.”
“Our scars make us know that our past was for real.”
“One man’s ways may be as good as another’s, but we all like our own best.”
“One cannot be too careful in the choice of one’s enemies.”
“It is very difficult for the prosperous to be humble.”
“A person who can write a long letter with ease cannot write ill.”
“A mind lively and at ease can do with seeing nothing, and can see nothing that does not answer.”
“I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.”
“One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.”
“I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures.”
“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 they the result of previous study?”
“A woman, especially if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can.”
“Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.”
“To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.”
“One cannot have too large a party.”
“There are certainly not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them.”
“We do not look in our great cities for our best morality.”
“It is not what we do, but what we feel that makes us useful to others.”
“I am not a great reader, and I have pleasure in many things.”
“It is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us.”
“There is nothing so dangerous as a headlong sense of right.”
“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.”
“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.”
“The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love.”
“We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.”
“I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle.”
“What is right to be done cannot be done too soon.”
These quotes showcase Jane Austen’s keen observations, wit, and insights into human nature, love, and society.
