Jane Austen Quotes

Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot's character; vanity of person and of situation. He had been remarkably handsome in his youth; and, at fifty-four, was still a very fine man. Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did; nor could the valet of any new-made lord be more delighted with the place he held in society. He considered the blessing of beauty as inferior only to the blessing of a baronetcy; and the Sir Walter Elliot, who united these gifts, was the constant object of his warmest respect and devotion.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.

In his library he had been always sure of leisure and tranquility; and though prepared, as he told Elizabeth, to meet with folly and conceit in every other room in the house, he was used to be free from them there

You will find her manners beyond anything I can describe; and your wit and vivacity, I think, must be acceptable to her, especially when tempered with the silence and respect which her rank will inevitably excite.

This was a lucky recollection -- it saved her from something like regret.

What praise is more valuable than the praise of an intelligent servant?

Marianne was silent; it was impossible for her to say what she did not feel, however trivial the occasion…