Memorable Jane Austen Quotes From Her Novels and Letters

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jasmine taylor

| on January 28, 2019 | updated on February 12, 2019 | comments (3)

jane austen (1775 – 1817), the beloved British author, was deeply involved in her craft as a creator of words. her talent was recognized from the beginning and valued by her family.

Jane’s father, a country chancellor, and her brothers played a key role in publishing her works at a time when it was considered unseemly for women to present themselves in business.

You are reading: Jane austen quotes about books

She longed to see her work in print, whether or not she would gain fame or fortune, but getting it published was important to her, contrary to the myth about her extreme modesty.

Many memorable quotes emerged from his six published books and surviving letters. These are some of our favorite Jane Austen quotes.

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sense and sensibility (1811)

more sense and sensibility quotes

“people always live forever when you have to pay them an annuity”.

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“It is not what we say or think that defines us, but what we do”.

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“The more I know about the world, the more I am convinced that I will never see a man I can truly love. I need so much!”

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“know your own happiness. you want nothing but patience, or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope.”

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“It is not time or opportunity that determines intimacy; it’s just the layout. seven years would be insufficient for some people to get to know each other, and seven days is more than enough for others.”

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“I wish, like everyone else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everyone else, it must be my way.”

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pride and prejudice (1813)

more pride and prejudice quotes

“It is a universally recognized truth that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in need of a wife.”

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“I declare that after all there is no pleasure like reading! how much sooner does one tire of anything than of a book! when I have a house of my own, I will be miserable if I do not have an excellent library.”

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“A lady’s imagination is very quick; she jumps from admiration to love, from love to marriage in an instant.”

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“there are few people I truly love, and even fewer that I think well of. the more I see of the world, the more dissatisfied I am with it; and each day confirms my belief in the inconsistency of all human characters, and how little dependence can be placed on appearances for merit or meaning.”

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“I must learn to be content with being happier than I deserve”.

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“vanity and pride are different things, although the words are often used synonymously. a person can be proud without being vain. pride is more related to the opinion we have of ourselves, vanity with what we want others to think of us.”

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“You are presented with an unhappy alternative, elizabeth. from this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. your mother will never see you again if she doesn’t marry mr. collins, and I’ll never see you again if you do.”

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mansfield park (1814)

more quotes from mansfield park

“girls in a good mood and unaffected will not do for a man who has been used to sensible women. they are two different orders of being.”

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“nothing ever tires me, except doing what I don’t like.”

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“There will be little problems and disappointments everywhere, and we can all 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 better second: we find solace somewhere.”

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“we all have a better guide in ourselves, if we attend to it, than anyone else can be.”

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“selfishness should always be forgiven, you know, because there is no hope of a cure”.

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“life seems like a quick succession of busy nothings”.

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“ouch! don’t attack me with your watch. a clock is always too fast or too slow. a clock cannot dictate me.”

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emma (1815)

more emma quotes

“there is no charm equal to tenderness of heart”, she later said to herself. there is nothing that compares to it. warmth and tenderness of heart, with an affectionate and open manner, will overcome all the clear-headedness in the world, by attraction: I am sure it will.”

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“I always deserve the best treatment because I can never stand anyone else.”

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“why not enjoy the pleasure right away? how often happiness is destroyed by preparation, foolish preparations.”

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“It is very difficult for the prosperous to be humble.”

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“rarely, very rarely, the complete truth belongs to any human revelation; it can rarely happen that something is not a little disguised or a little wrong.

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“If I fell in love, actually, it would be a different thing! but I’ve never been in love; it is not my way, nor my nature; and I don’t think I ever will. and, without love, I’m sure I’d be a fool to change a situation like mine.”

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northern abbey (1817)

more quotes from northanger abbey

“There is nothing I wouldn’t do for those who are truly my friends. I have no notion of loving people halfway, it’s not my nature.”

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“the person, whether gentleman or lady, who has no pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

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“it is just a novel… or, in short, just a work in which the greatest faculties of the mind are displayed, in which the most complete knowledge of human nature is manifested, the happiest delineation of its varieties , the liveliest outpourings of wit and humour, are transmitted to the world in the best chosen language”.

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“no man is offended by another man’s admiration for the woman he loves; she is the only woman who can make him a torment.”

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“a woman, especially, if she has the misfortune to know something, should hide it as best she can.”

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“Looking almost pretty is an acquisition of greater delight to a girl who has been looking normal for the first fifteen years of her life than a beauty from her cradle can receive.”

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“friendship is undoubtedly the best balm for the pain of disappointed love”.

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persuasion (1817)

more quotes of persuasion

“I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were good ladies instead of rational creatures. none of us want to be in calm waters all their lives.”

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“I don’t think I’ve ever opened a book in my life that didn’t have something to say about the inconstancy of women. songs and proverbs all speak of the inconstancy of women. but perhaps you will say that these were all written by men.”

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“the last few hours were certainly very painful,” anne replied, “but when the pain passes, its memory often turns into a pleasure. One does not love a place less for having suffered in it, unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering.”

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“she expected to be wise and reasonable in time; but alas! poor me! she must confess to herself that she was not yet wise.”

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“I think men can quickly forget a lost love. I know women would find it much more difficult.”

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You may also be interested in: Jane Austen’s literary ambitions. . . . . . . . . .

from jane austen letters

“I don’t want people to be nice, since it saves me the trouble of liking them.” (from a letter to her sister cassandra from her, 1798)

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“an artist cannot do anything scruffy”. (from a letter to his sister cassandra from him, 1798)

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“the pleasures of friendship, of unreserved conversation, of similarity and taste and opinions will compensate well for orange wine”. (from a letter to his sister cassandra from him, 1808)

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“I’m starting to weigh my words and sentences more than I used to, and look for a feeling, an illustration or a metaphor in every corner of the room. if my ideas flowed as fast as the rain in the store cupboard, that would be lovely.” (from a letter to her sister cassandra from her, 1809)

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“the work [pride and prejudice] is too light, bright and sparkling; wants shade; he wants to extend himself here and there with a long chapter—of meanings if one could have one; if not, of solemn and deceitful nonsense, about something unrelated to the story…anything that would form a contrast and lead the reader with greater delight into the gaiety and epigrammatism of the general style.” (from letter to her sister cassandra, 1813)

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“I must take this opportunity to thank you, dear sir, for the high praise you give my other novels. I am too vain to want to convince you that you have praised them beyond their merits. my greatest anxiety at this moment is that this fourth work does not dishonor what was good in the others.” (from a letter to a librarian, 1815)

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“I think I can boast of being, with all possible vanity, the most ignorant, & uninformed woman who once dared to be an author”. (from a letter to james stainer, 1815)

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“wisdom is better than wit and, in the long run, you will surely have laughter on your side”. (from a letter to his niece, 1814)

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jane austen pagein amazon. . . . . . . . . .

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Memorable Jane Austen Quotes From Her Novels and Letters

| on January 28, 2019 | updated on February 12, 2019 | comments (3)

sense and sensibility (1811)

pride and prejudice (1813)

mansfield park (1814)

emma (1815)

northern abbey (1817)

persuasion (1817)

from jane austen letters

categories: author quotes

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