Dear Eloisa (said I) there’s no occasion for your crying so much about such a trifle. (for I was willing to make light of it in order to comfort her) I beg you would not...

Lady Jane Gray, who tho’ inferior to her lovely Cousin the Queen of Scots, was yet an amiable young woman & famous for reading Greek while other people were hunting….Whether she really understood that language...

Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing, after all.-Take care, Lizzy; that speech savours strongly of disappointment.

There’s no way on God’s green earth that I’m dressing up like Mr. Darcy.” Brooks stretched out on Caroline’s bed, hanging his suede wing tips off the edge and crossing his ankles. He laced his...

I saw that he was looking anxious.’I thought you weren’t coming.’ As he spoke, he grasped my hand. And if the sight of him had not quite restored the magic, the touch of him most...

What an excellent father you have, girls!’ said she, when the door was shut. ‘Such joys are scarce since the good Lord saw fit to close the gates of Hell and doom the dead to...

… [In ‘Pride and Prejudice’] Mr Collins’s repulsiveness in his letter [about Lydia’s elopement] does not exist only at the level of the sentence: it permeates all aspects of his rhetoric. Austen’s point is that...

Move over, Emma Woodhouse. You have met your match.

My idea of good company…is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.’ ‘You are mistaken,’ said he gently, ‘that is not good...

If the warmth of her Language could affect the body it mightbe worth reading in this weather.

How to explain the sheer tingling joy one experiences when two interesting, complex, and occasionally aggravating characters have at last settled their misunderstandings and will live happily ever after, no matter what travails life might...

As for Elizabeth Bennet, our chief reason for accepting her point of view as a reflection of her author’s is the impression that she bears of sympathy between them–an impression of which almost every reader...

Shortly after you left the room, Bushell came over and spoke to your father. I was not near enough to hear what he said, but Maria Lucas told me afterwards that he had been -‘...

You may marry Miss Grey for her fifteen pounds but you will always be my Willoughby. My nightmare. My sorrow. My past. My mistake. My regret. My love.

Of all the evenings it is possible to spend, a companionable evening with friends is the best.

Business, you know, may bring money, but friendship hardly ever does.

Captain Harvile: Poor Phoebe, she would not have forgotten him so soon. It was not in her nature. Anne Elliot: It would not be in the nature of any woman who truly loved. Captain Harvile:...

Miss Morland, no one can think more highly of the understanding of women than I do. In my opinion, nature has given them so much that they never find it necessary to use more than...

Did you just say youThink Mansfield Park is boring? Get out of my house.

There is no doubt that Austen herself was aware of the world around her and its imminent change. But her characters live in the world of the family, the village and the heart–and are loved...

Your powers of observation are formidable,” Michael says and Darien giggles behind one perfectly manicured hand, like some sort of preppie geisha.

Even when there were good wars to write about, writers such as Jane Austen wrote novels concerning marriage. They usually went like this:’You’re being a real jerk.”Sorry about that. I was secretly helping you.”Oh, you’re...

They danced again, and when the assembly closed, parted, on the lady’s side at least, with a strong inclination for continuing the acquaintance. Whether she thought of him so much while she drank her warm...

No! Thank you for thinking I am thoughtful.

Banii pot aduce fericire numai acolo unde n-o poate aduce nimic altceva. In afara de anumite inlesniri, banii nu pot oferi bucurii adevarate

Just because we’re not firing cannons or riding horses doesn’t mean it won’t be fun.

Blessed with the love of a good man, I felt equal to anything – even the prospect of living out my days in the Antipodes.

Anyone who has the temerity to write about Jane Austen is aware of [two] facts: first, that of all great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness; second, that...

There are books that speak to us of our own lives with a clarity we cannot match. They prevent the morose suspicion that we do not fully belong to the species, that we lie beyond...

Hugh Laurie (playing Mr. Palmer) felt the line ‘Don’t palm all your abuses [of language upon me]’ was possibly too rude. ‘It’s in the book,’ I said. He didn’t hit me.

Her heart did whisper that he had done it for her.

Has de aprender algo de mi filosofía. Piensa sólo en el pasado cuando su recuerdo te procure placer.

I once wrote you a letter and you never replied, which makes me wonder if you ever received it. This time it’s a more personal delivery – and I need a reply, even if it’s...

Others beside Jane Austen have made their Eltons, though none quite so cooly as she.

I had never in all my life felt so elated. Peter cared for me! It was a miracle I longed to celebrate – to tell all Hertfordshire – and I had to hold my hand...

Every romantic woman dreams of Willoughby. However, every wise woman’s heart knows Colonel Brandon would take care of her when she was sick, love her when she was well and know her worth every day...

It was as easy as breathing to go and have tea near the place where Jane Austen had so wittily scribbled and so painfully died. One of the things that causes some critics to marvel...

I cannot say much for this Monarch’s Sense–Nor would I if I could, for he was a Lancastrian. I suppose you know all about the Wars between him and the Duke of York who was...

And so ended his affection,” said Elizabeth impatiently. “There hasbeen many a one, I fancy, overcome in the same way. I wonder who firstdiscovered the efficacy of poetry in driving away love!””I have been used...

Nada más capcioso que las apariencias de humildad. A veces nacen de pereza para sostener una opinión y a veces son un modo indirecto de elogiarse a sí mismo.

My new favorite title is How Jane Austen Ruined My Life. I don’t have the courage to read it, though. I’m afraid to discover she’s ruined mine as well.

Quite definitely a Bingley

I suppose I look acceptable, the black (haired) sheep among the Barrett blondes.

Though she had been surprised to find that murder was so thoroughly enjoyable, Mrs Bennet did not believe that this reflected any fault or wickedness in her character. She knew she only committed these acts...

When the evening was over, Anne could not but be amused at the idea of her coming to Lyme, to preach patience and resignation to a young man whom she had never seen before; nor...

She ventured to hope he did not always read only poetry; and to say, that she thought it was the misfortune of poetry, to be seldom safely enjoyed by those who enjoyed it completely; and...

take warning from my unhappy End …Beware of fainting-fits…Beware of swoons, Run mad as often as you chuse; but do not faint—”.

Like the dancing.

Hello, Mary.’It was like hearing a note of divine calm after a dissonant passage of music. My confusion died away.

It has the permanent quality of literature.