JANE AUSTEN QUOTES IV

English novelist (1775-1817)

Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.

JANE AUSTEN

Pride and Prejudice

Tags: humility


I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.

JANE AUSTEN

Pride and Prejudice

Tags: pride


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.

JANE AUSTEN

Northanger Abbey


I could not sit seriously down to write a serious romance under any other motive than to save my life; and if it were indispensable for me to keep it up and never relax into laughing at myself or other people, I am sure I should be hung before I had finished the first chapter. No, I must keep to my own style and go on in my own way; and though I may never succeed again in that, I am convinced that I should totally fail in any other.

JANE AUSTEN

letter to Mr. Clarke, Apr. 1, 1816


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

JANE AUSTEN

Pride and Prejudice

Tags: wit


I cannot help thinking that it is more natural to have flowers grow out of the head than fruit.

JANE AUSTEN

letter to Cassandra Austen, Jun. 11, 1799


Mary wished to say something very sensible, but knew not how.

JANE AUSTEN

Pride and Prejudice


Next week I shall begin my operations on my hat, on which you know my principal hopes of happiness depend.

JANE AUSTEN

letter, Oct. 27, 1798


I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way.

JANE AUSTEN

Sense and Sensibility

Tags: happiness


Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor, which is one very strong argument in favour of matrimony.

JANE AUSTEN

letter to Fanny Knight, Mar. 13, 1817


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

JANE AUSTEN

Emma

Tags: pleasure


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.

JANE AUSTEN

Mansfield Park


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

JANE AUSTEN

Emma


It would be mortifying to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of a man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire.

JANE AUSTEN

Northanger Abbey

Tags: fashion


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.

JANE AUSTEN

Mansfield Park

Tags: happiness


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

JANE AUSTEN

Emma


What praise is more valuable than the praise of an intelligent servant?

JANE AUSTEN

Pride and Prejudice

Tags: praise


To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.

JANE AUSTEN

Pride and Prejudice

Tags: dance


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.

JANE AUSTEN

Pride and Prejudice


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.

JANE AUSTEN

Pride and Prejudice

Tags: pessimism