Quotes from Jane Austen

We do not look in great cities for our best morality.

If he does not come to me, then ,' said she, 'I shall give him up for ever.

You have no ambition, I well know. Your wishes are all moderate.' 'As moderate as those of the rest of the world, I believe. I wish as well as every body else to be perfectly happy, but like every body else it must be in my own way. Greatness will not make me so.

How she might have felt had there been no Captain Wentworth in the case, was not worth enquiry; for there was a Captain Wentworth: and be the conclusion of the present suspense good or bad, her affection would be his forever. Their union, she believed, could not divide her more from other men, than their final separation.

Sono poche le persone che io amo per davvero e ancora meno quelle delle quali io penso bene. Più conosco il mondo, più ne sono disgustata; e ogni giorno conferma la mia convinzione dell'incoerenza del carattere umano, e della poca fiducia che possiamo riporre in tutto ciò che può apparire merito o intelligenza.

And so ended his affection, said Elizabeth impatiently. There has been many a one, I fancy, overcome in the same way. I wonder who first discovered the efficacy of poetry in driving away love! I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love, said Darcy.

I suppose there may be a hundred different ways of being in love.

He then departed, to make himself still more interesting, in the midst of an heavy rain.

The I examined my own heart. And there you were. Never, I fear, to be removed.

That is very true, replied Elizabeth, and I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.

None but a woman can teach the science of herself.

One can never have too large a party.

My being charming…is not quite enough to induce me to marry. I must find other people charming - one other person at least.

You are in a melancholy humour, and fancy that any one unlike yourself must be happy. But remember that the pain of parting from friends will be felt by every body at times, whatever be their education or state. Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience — or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope.

She looked back as well as she could; but it was all confusion. She had taken up the idea, she supposed and made everything bend to it.

No- I cannot talk of books in a ballroom; my head is always full of something else.

There are few of us who are secure enough to be within love without proper encouragement - Charlotte Lucas

She expected from other people the same opinions and feeling as her own, and she judged their motives by the immediate effect of their actions on herself.

The longer they were together the more doubtful seemed the nature of his regard, and sometimes for a few painful minutes she believed it to be no more than friendship

If a woman is partial to a man, and does not endeavour to conceal it, he must find it out. -Elizabeth

There is exquisite pleasure in subduing an insolent spirit, in making a person pre-determined to dislike, acknowledge one's superiority.

Every young lady may feel for my heroine in this critical moment, for every young lady has at some time or other known the same agitation.

They gave themselves up wholly to their sorrow, seeking increase of wretchedness in every reflection that could afford it, and resolved against ever admitting consolation in future.

each found her greatest safety in silence…