Jane Austen Quotes

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

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 40. Elizabeth admits to Jane that she has been mistaken in her judgment of Darcy and she misused her wit to abuse him. This self-knowledge comes after the letter from Darcy to Elizabeth explaining the truth of his relationship with George Wickham. The fuller quote: "I meant to be uncommonly clever in taking so decided a dislike to him, without any reason. It is such a spur to one’s genius, such an opening for wit to have a dislike of that kind. One may be continually abusive without saying any thing just; but one cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty."

Where other powers of entertainment are wanting, the true philosopher will derive benefit from such as are given.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 42. Having learned that he married a foolish and ignorant woman, a disappointed Mr. Bennet seeks refuge in making human folly his pastime. He finds plenty of entertainment material in Mrs. Bennet and has no respect for her. The fuller quote: "To his wife he was very little otherwise indebted, than as her ignorance and folly had contributed to his amusement. This is not the sort of happiness which a man would in general wish to owe to his wife; but where other powers of entertainment are wanting, the true philosopher will derive benefit from such as are given."

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.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 47. The teenage tearaway of the Bennet family Lydia has run off with George Wickham. Her sister Mary draws what she believes is an important moral lesson from Lydia’s elopment. She speaks of the frailty of a woman’s reputation, warning her other sisters that once a woman loses her virtue it cannot be recovered. Here she is echoing how highly prized a woman’s virtue and moral reputation were at the time, if she aspired to have a decent life for herself and maintain the respect of society.

What do you think of my husband? Is not he a charming man? I am sure my sisters must all envy me. I only hope they may have half my good luck. They must all go to Brighton. That is the place to get husbands.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 51. After a forced marriage to Wickham and putting her family through a form of hell, an unrepentant Lydia returns to Longbourn. She sees no fault in her behavior and jokes about her luck in finding a husband in Brighton. With great irony she hopes her sisters get half as lucky in finding a good husband in Brighton. Lydia is unaware that Wickham had to be paid to marry her.

I do not pretend to possess equal frankness with your ladyship. You may ask questions which I shall not choose to answer.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 56. Lady Catherine is certainly not used to being spoken to like this, as Elizabeth stands up to the aristocratic bully in one of English literature’s truly great scenes. Elizabeth will answer only the questions she chooses to, she tells de Bourgh. To her ladyship it must appear to be the height of impertinence. To Elizabeth it is expressing her independence of spirit and equality as a person.

You ought certainly to forgive them as a Christian, but never to admit them in your sight, or allow their names to be mentioned in your hearing.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 57. Mr. Collins advises Mr. Bennet in his letter that Lydia and Wickham should be shunned, after they ran away together and were finally forced to marry. He notes that they were received at Longbourn following the marriage and hopes that the family will never receive them again. For a clergyman Mr. Collins has an unusual interpretation of Christian forgiveness. Of course he is being ironic without realizing it – his idea of forgiveness is not forgiveness at all. It is also a good example of Mr. Collins being used by Austen as a satirical figure.

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

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 57. Mr. Bennet is a likeable, funny character. But his witty remarks can be very cynical and sarcastic. His detached irony is, like his library, an escape room where he retreats for sanctuary to insulate himself from family responsibilities. He is a laissez-faire father whose neglect of his parenting duties and continuous ridicule of his wife is partly responsible for Lydia’s disgrace. Mr. Bennet speaks here on the secret of life, that all we are here for is to laugh at our neighbors’ follies and nonsense and they at ours. He makes his ironic comment after a letter from Mr. Collins about a rumored engagement between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, which he thinks very funny.

The happiness which this reply produced, was such as he had probably never felt before; and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 58. Darcy is filled with happiness when Elizabeth accepts his second proposal. He is said to express himself "as warmly as a man violently in love." Does that mean that they embraced, or even kissed? It’s not spelled out, except to say it was "violent" and "warm," and so the debate on how Darcy expressed his love continues to this day.

They walked on, without knowing in what direction. There was too much to be thought, and felt, and said, for attention to any other objects.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 58. After a relationship dogged by pridefulness, prejudice and misunderstandings, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy finally have their perfect story-tale happy ending. The barriers that they put up against each other have been taken down, and Elizabeth has accepted his marriage proposal. They walk on, their attention on nothing but each other, alone to express their true feelings to each other and plan a life together. It is the moment that they and every reader of the novel has been waiting for. Sadly Jane Austen’s own story with her real-life Mr. Darcy didn’t have the same happy ending. Darcy is believed to be partly based on Irish judge and politician Thomas Lefroy. The Limerick born Lefroy and Austen were said to have a flirtation and spent some time together. In a letter to her sister Cassandra Austen in 1796 she wrote: "At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy, and when you receive this it will be over. My tears flow as I write at the melancholy idea." Both Jane and Cassandra never married but Lefroy married Mary Paul from Wexford, Ireland, in 1799. Just three years before this Jane told Cassandra in a letter: "At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy, and when you receive this it will be over. My tears flow as I write at the melancholy idea."

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

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 58. Elizabeth explains her philosophy to Darcy. In moving forward to a happy future together, she is proposing that they leave negative memories behind and forgive each other’s past errors. In the fuller quote, she suggests that they were both at fault in their misconceptions of each other, they had acquired the self-knowledge to admit their faults and change, now they should move on and forget the unpleasant past: "But think no more of the letter. The feelings of the person who wrote, and the person who received it, are now so widely different from what they were then, that every unpleasant circumstance attending it ought to be forgotten. You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure."
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