Emma Pride and Vanity Quotes

The real evils, indeed, of Emma’s situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself; these were the disadvantages which threatened alloy to her many enjoyments. The danger, however, was at present so unperceived, that they did not by any means rank as misfortunes with her.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 1. This quote foreshadows the protagonist’s main flaws and the challenges she will face as a result of them. Highlighted are the spoiled and excessively confident Emma’s egotism and vanity and her being accustomed to having too much of her own way. Her self-assurance and over-confidence are satirized in the description of her thinking “a little too well of herself.” The word “alloy” is used as a metaphor to suggest that her flaws may have the effect of threatening her own happiness. Thus the central conflict upon which the novel is built is foreshadowed. When Emma turns matchmaker her pride and sense of superiority do indeed lead her to meddle in other people’s lives and make bad decisions because of her flawed perceptions.

She would notice her; she would improve her; she would detach her from her bad acquaintance, and introduce her into good society; she would form her opinions and her manners. It would be an interesting and certainly a very kind undertaking; highly becoming her own situation in life, her leisure, and powers.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 3. After meeting 17-year-old boarder at Mrs. Goddard’s school for girls Harriet Smith, Emma Woodhouse decides to adopt her as her protégée. She sees Harriet as her new pet project to improve and elevate so she will fit into upper class society. Emma’s vanity and belief in her own superiority are evident, as she sets about improving Harriet. Harriet is Emma’s replacement for Miss Taylor, the governess who left the Woodhouse household to get married. The privileged Emma will clearly be using Harriet to relieve her boredom and practice her talents on.

“A young farmer, whether on horseback or on foot, is the very last sort of person to raise my curiosity. The yeomanry are precisely the order of people with whom I feel I can have nothing to do. A degree or two lower, and a creditable appearance might interest me; I might hope to be useful to their families in some way or other. But a farmer can need none of my help, and is therefore in one sense as much above my notice as in every other he is below it.”

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 4. Emma’s shocking level of snobbery and vanity is laid bare in her comments to her protégée Harriet Smith about Robert Martin. Harriet has developed an interest in the yeoman farmer, who rents land from George Knightley. But in Emma’s eyes the tenant farmer has no social standing whatsoever and she is endeavoring to turn Harriet’s attentions away from him. Emma looks down on those beneath her on the social ladder, while at the same time offering charity to those at the bottom of that ladder. She shows the petty prejudices of some of the upper class who are blind to the good qualities of people from the lower class. In this quote Austen is satirizing the snobbish nature of Emma and rich privileged people like her.

“I think her the very worst sort of companion that Emma could possibly have. She knows nothing herself, and looks upon Emma as knowing every thing. She is a flatterer in all her ways; and so much the worse, because undesigned. Her ignorance is hourly flattery. How can Emma imagine she has any thing to learn herself, while Harriet is presenting such a delightful inferiority? And as for Harriet, I will venture to say that she cannot gain by the acquaintance. Hartfield will only put her out of conceit with all the other places she belongs to. She will grow just refined enough to be uncomfortable with those among whom birth and circumstances have placed her home. I am much mistaken if Emma’s doctrines give any strength of mind, or tend at all to make a girl adapt herself rationally to the varieties of her situation in life. – They only give a little polish.”

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 5. There is important foreshadowing in Mr. Knightley sounding the alarm bells over Emma adopting Harriet Smith as her companion and protégée. He discusses their developing friendship with Mrs. Weston, warning that it will benefit neither of them. Harriet’s flattery will feed Emma’s vanity and self-assuredness, he believes. Knightley is not a snob, but he understands the class system and feels that Emma’s actions will just make Harriet uncomfortable with people of her own background and social class.

“You will puff her up with such ideas of her own beauty, and of what she has a claim to, that, in a little while, nobody within her reach will be good enough for her. Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief. Nothing so easy as for a young lady to raise her expectations too high. Miss Harriet Smith may not find offers of marriage flow in so fast, though she is a very pretty girl. Men of sense, whatever you may chuse to say, do not want silly wives.”

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 8. Mr. Knightley accuses Emma of inflating Harriet Smith’s ego and vanity and encouraging unrealistic expectations about her social position and a potential husband. He highlights the risks of relying on beauty and outward appearance alone, warning that despite being pretty Miss Smith have not have suitors queuing at her door. Sensible men value women of good sense and don’t want “silly wives,” he tells her.

“I must see somebody very superior to any one I have seen yet, to be tempted; Mr. Elton, you know, (recollecting herself,) is out of the question: and I do not wish to see any such person. I would rather not be tempted. I cannot really change for the better. If I were to marry, I must expect to repent it.”

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 10. Emma comes across as a very self-assured person in her conversation with Harriet about marriage. This quote also shows her arrogance and vanity, blindness and self-deception. She declares that she must see someone “very superior to any one I have seen yet” before considering marriage. She feels she is not capable of self-improvement and cynically believes marriage would be a step down for her that she would regret. Yet Emma does end up marrying and being happy with someone she knows and sees on a regular basis. As a possible suitor Mr. Elton is dismissed out of hand. But with all her flawed thinking, she is not wrong on that one.

“Fortune I do not want; employment I do not want; consequence I do not want: I believe few married women are half as much mistress of their husband’s house as I am of Hartfield; and never, never could I expect to be so truly beloved and important; so always first and always right in any man’s eyes as I am in my father’s.”

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 10. Emma doesn’t feel the economic need to wed, since she is mistress of Hartfield, her father’s house in the English countryside. Nor is she in need of the love of a husband, since she is content with her father’s love. In her case against marriage she makes to her friend Harriet, she comes across as somewhat smug and superior sounding. And she is rather proud of a privileged position many other women are not lucky enough to enjoy, including Harriet.

“I shall not be a poor old maid; and it is poverty only which makes celibacy contemptible to a generous public! A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid! the proper sport of boys and girls, but a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as any body else.”

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 10. After Emma declares that she will never marry and a horrified Harriet asks if that means she will be an old maid, Emma makes this reply. It seems rather a harsh and disrespectful judgment on single women from the lower classes. But it echoes societal views at the time, that a wealthy single woman was seen as respectable, while a poor single woman was viewed as ridiculous. The quote reflects how a woman’s socioeconomic class and marital status greatly affected her likability and acceptability by society in England’s regency era. Austen uses hyperbole here in Emma’s observation of a poor single woman being a “ridiculous, disagreeable old maid.” Emma cannot help but display her pride and vanity over being a desirable member of the monied class who can afford not to marry.

“I thank you; but I assure you you are quite mistaken. Mr. Elton and I are very good friends, and nothing more;” and she walked on, amusing herself in the consideration of the blunders which often arise from a partial knowledge of circumstances, of the mistakes which people of high pretensions to judgment are for ever falling into.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 13. Emma’s response to John Knightley’s observation about Mr. Elton’s romantic pursuit of her is an excellent example of Austen’s use of humor and irony. Emma dismisses Knightley’s comments as a mistake typically made by “people of high pretensions to judgment.” Ironically this description perfectly fits her. Emma finds amusement in the misjudgments of others, especially regarding anything romantic between her and Mr. Elton. Due to her arrogance and pride in her superiority, she is blind to the truth. Mr. Elton is indeed interested in her, not Harriet, as she believes.

Emma was sorry; – to have to pay civilities to a person she did not like through three long months! – to be always doing more than she wished, and less than she ought! Why she did not like Jane Fairfax might be a difficult question to answer; Mr. Knightley had once told her it was because she saw in her the really accomplished young woman, which she wanted to be thought herself; and though the accusation had been eagerly refuted at the time, there were moments of self-examination in which her conscience could not quite acquit her.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 20. Emma’s irrational dislike of Jane Fairfax exposes her own vanity and pride, as well as her tendency to misread people. As a woman of accomplishments Jane presents a rival to Emma, who clearly is jealous of her. Emma enjoys being the alpha female of Highbury, clings tightly to that status and sees Jane as a threat to her position.

The Coles were very respectable in their way, but they ought to be taught that it was not for them to arrange the terms on which the superior families would visit them. This lesson, she very much feared, they would receive only from herself; she had little hope of Mr. Knightley, none of Mr. Weston.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 25. Emma criticizes the trader family the Coles for having the cheek to think they could invite Highbury’s top families to visit them. And she is the one to teach them their place, she feels. Emma’s enormous pride in her privileged social standing is very obvious here.

Emma did not repent her condescension in going to the Coles. The visit afforded her many pleasant recollections the next day; and all that she might be supposed to have lost on the side of dignified seclusion, must be amply repaid in the splendour of popularity. She must have delighted the Coles – worthy people, who deserved to be made happy! – And left a name behind her that would not soon die away.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 27. Emma’s snobbishness, feelings of superiority and vanity are showcased in her thoughts about going to the party at the Coles. Initially set to decline the invitation from the newly rich family because their money came from trade, she was persuaded to go by others. In the chapter’s opening sentences, she admits that it was a pleasant experience which would benefit her reputation and social standing.

The quarter of an hour quite convinced her that Mrs. Elton was a vain woman, extremely well satisfied with herself, and thinking much of her own importance; that she meant to shine and be very superior, but with manners which had been formed in a bad school, pert and familiar; that all her notions were drawn from one set of people, and one style of living; that if not foolish she was ignorant, and that her society would certainly do Mr. Elton no good.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 32. These are Emma’s very negative impressions of Mrs. Elton when she meets her for the first time. Mrs. Elton is a satirical figure, introduced by Austen to mock the pretentiousness and superficiality of the nouveau riche and their efforts to ascend the social ladder. Emma is unimpressed by the newly wealthy Mrs. Elton, finding her lacking in manners, full of self-importance and trying to act superior to the people in Highbury. But it is rather ironic of Emma to call her vain, since Emma herself suffers the same character flaw. Indeed some of Emma’s comments on Mrs. Elton are a reflection of Emma’s own character, yet she is unaware of it.

“Insufferable woman!” was her immediate exclamation. “Worse than I had supposed. Absolutely insufferable! Knightley! – I could not have believed it. Knightley! – never seen him in her life before, and call him Knightley! – and discover that he is a gentleman! A little upstart, vulgar being, with her Mr. E., and her caro sposo, and her resources, and all her airs of pert pretension and under-bred finery. Actually to discover that Mr. Knightley is a gentleman! I doubt whether he will return the compliment, and discover her to be a lady. I could not have believed it! And to propose that she and I should unite to form a musical club! One would fancy we were bosom friends!”

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 32. When Emma meets the new bride Mrs. Elton on her visit to Hartfield, she can barely contain herself and her reaction. Emma finds her shockingly vulgar, pretentious and full of herself, describing her husband as Mr. E and her caro sposo. Her over-familiarity horrifies Emma. Referring to Mr. Knightley as “Knightley” particularly annoys Emma. She is further provoked by the suggestion that they start a musical club together, as if they were close friends. But it needs to be said that Emma displays quite the superior air and more than a touch of vanity in her biting critique and put-down of Mrs. Elton.

Her own attachment had really subsided into a mere nothing; it was not worth thinking of; – but if he, who had undoubtedly been always so much the most in love of the two, were to be returning with the same warmth of sentiment which he had taken away, it would be very distressing.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 37. Emma realizes that her affections for Frank Churchill have faded to the point of insignificance. But she is concerned that when he returns to Hartfield he may still harbor strong romantic feelings for her. It seems to gratify Emma’s vanity to believe that Frank is not only in love with her, but has always been the one more in love. A deluded Emma continues to deceive herself that the charming Frank’s flirtations add up to something deep and meaningful. Ultimately Frank’s true love is Jane Fairfax, as we will learn.

“I should not have thought it possible,” she began, “that you could have misunderstood me! I know we agreed never to name him – but considering how infinitely superior he is to every body else, I should not have thought it possible that I could be supposed to mean any other person. Mr. Frank Churchill, indeed! I do not know who would ever look at him in the company of the other. I hope I have a better taste than to think of Mr. Frank Churchill, who is like nobody by his side.”

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 47. When Emma claims that Harriet gave her reason to believe she cared about Frank Churchill, Harriet dismisses this. She rubbishes the idea of an attachment to Frank, declaring she had better taste than what. Just as Mr. Knightley predicted, Harriet has become a conceited woman. So who is Harriet’s mystery fancy man? To her shock and dismay, Emma soon finds out. This quote is another example of Emma misreading people and situations.

With insufferable vanity had she believed herself in the secret of everybody’s feelings; with unpardonable arrogance proposed to arrange everybody’s destiny. She was proved to have been universally mistaken; and she had not quite done nothing – for she had done mischief. She had brought evil on Harriet, on herself, and she too much feared, on Mr. Knightley.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 47. A self-aware Emma acknowledges that her vanity led her to meddling in other people’s lives and causing them harm with her misperceptions. She accepts how arrogant it was to think herself an expert on people’s feelings so she could arrange their destinies. In her moment of clarity, epiphany and self-discovery, she hyperbolically describes what she did to her friends as evil, her arrogance as unpardonable and vanity as insufferable.

But Harriet was less humble, had fewer scruples than formerly. – Her inferiority, whether of mind or situation, seemed little felt. – She had seemed more sensible of Mr. Elton’s being to stoop in marrying her, than she now seemed of Mr. Knightley’s. – Alas! was not that her own doing too? Who had been at pains to give Harriet notions of self-consequence but herself? – Who but herself had taught her, that she was to elevate herself if possible, and that her claims were great to a high worldly establishment? – If Harriet, from being humble, were grown vain, it was her doing too.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 47. As Emma becomes more humble, Harriet grows more conceited. Here Emma ponders the role she herself played in encouraging Harriet’s vanity and giving her notions of self-importance. She believes that she is to blame for Harriet’s ambitions to marry way above her social station and set her sights on Mr. Knightley. Emma is gaining in self-knowledge as she becomes more aware of her faults and also her own feelings for Mr. Knightley.
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