Jane Austen Quotes

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 7. Disagreeing with his wife, Mr. Bennet describes his youngest daughters Kitty and Lydia as "uncommonly foolish" after branding them "two of the silliest girls in the country" moments before. He appears to think that they are spending too much time around the soldiers from the militia regiment recently arrived in the neighborhood. But the irony is that he never insists that they stop. Mr. Bennet enjoys criticizing and teasing his daughters, but never actually tries to correct their behavior. This is also foreshadowing that his youngest daughters’ foolishness will get one of them – Lydia – involved in trouble and scandal later.