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
One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty. – Jane Austen
Dress is at all times a frivolous distinction, and excessive solicitude about it often destroys its own aim. – Jane Austen
An engaged woman is always more agreeable than a disengaged. She is satisfied with herself. Her cares are over, and she feels that she may exert all her powers of pleasing without suspicion. All is safe with a lady engaged; no harm can be done. – Jane Austen
Walter Scott has no business to write novels, especially good ones. It is not fair. He has fame and profit enough as a poet, and should not be taking the bread out of the mouths of other people. – Jane Austen
