Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything. – Jane Austen
Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations, that a young person, who either marries or dies, is sure of being kindly spoken of. – Jane Austen
We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be. – Jane Austen
Give a girl an education and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one but she has the means of settling well, without further expense to anybody. – Jane Austen
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. – Jane Austen
Oh! do not attack me with your watch. A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch. – Jane Austen
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 anybody else. – Jane Austen
A man would always wish to give a woman a better home than the one he takes her from; and he who can do it, where there is no doubt of her regard, must, I think, be the happiest of mortals. – Jane Austen
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
The power of doing anything with quickness is always prized much by the possessor, and often without any attention to the imperfection of the performance. – Jane Austen
Woman is fine for her own satisfaction alone. No man will admire her the more, no woman will like her the better for it. Neatness and fashion are enough for the former, and a something of shabbiness or impropriety will be most endearing to the latter. – Jane Austen
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
A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can. – Jane Austen
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? – Jane Austen
