If you’re a fan of classic literature, then you’ve probably read Jane Austen’s work. To celebrate her work, read our collection of Jane Austen Quotes.
One of the most prolific and well-loved writers of her time, Jane Austen was known for her wit, sharp observations, and biting social commentary. But beneath her clever exterior was a deep well of feeling and sensitivity.
Short biography of Jane Austen
Jane Austen was one of the most influential authors of her time. She wrote novels that are still cherished today, and her work continues to be adapted for film and television. Austen was born in 1775 in England, and she died in 1817 at the age of 41. While her life was relatively short, her novels have stood the test of time.
Jane Austen’s novels continue to be cherished by readers around the world. Though her life was relatively short and uneventful, Austen’s work has had a lasting impact on literature and the romantic ideal. Austen wrote six novels, which were all published anonymously. Her most famous novels are Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma.
Without further ado, we will explore some of her most famous quotes about love, relationship, and more. Explore this joyful lists of Jane Austen quotes to find your favorite one.
Jane Austen quotes about love
Austen known for her sharp wit and her ability to capture the complexities of human relationships in her writing. Here are some Jane Austen quotes from her various novels that highlight her thoughts on love:
You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. — Persuasion
If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am. You hear nothing but truth from me. — Emma
She was one of those, who, having, once begun, would be always in love. — Emma
My real purpose was to see you, and to judge, if I could, whether I might ever hope to make you love me. — Pride and Prejudice
Perhaps it is our imperfections that make us so perfect for one another. — Emma
There are as many forms of love as there are moments in time. — Mansfield Park
I am determined that only the deepest love will induce me into matrimony. — Pride and Prejudice
My heart is and always will be yours. — Pride and Prejudice
Her heart did whisper that he had done it for her. — Pride and Prejudice
In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you. — Pride and Prejudice
Inspirational Jane Austen quotes
It must be improper that a young lady should dream of a gentleman before the gentleman is known to have dreamt of her. — Northanger Abby
The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid. — Northanger Abbey
A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment. — Pride and Prejudice
Sometimes one is guided by what they say of themselves, and very frequently by what other people say of them, without giving oneself time to deliberate and judge. — Sense and Sensibility
It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy — it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others. — Sense and Sensibility
If I could but know his heart, everything would become easy. — Sense and Sensibility
Yes, I found myself, by insensible degrees, sincerely fond of her; and the happiest hours of my life were what I spent with her. — Sense and Sensibility
Beware how you give your heart. — Northanger Abby
Where the heart is really attached, I know very well how little one can be pleased with the attention of anybody else. — Northanger Abby
There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart. — Emma
Jane Austen quotes about happiness
Here are ten Jane Austen quotes about happiness:
You must be the best judge of your own happiness. — Emma
A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of. — Mansfield Park
Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience — or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope. — Sense and Sensibility
It’s such a happiness when good people get together. — Emma
That Marianne found her own happiness in forming his, was equally the persuasion and delight of each observing friend. — Sense and Sensibility
How little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue. — Pride and Prejudice
There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere. — Manfield Park
One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other. — Emma
I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way. — Sense and Sensibility
He will make you happy, Fanny; I know he will make you happy; but you will make him everything. — Mansfield Park
Jane Austen quotes about relationship
Austen’s writing often explores the themes of relationship and marriage, and these Jane Austen quotes below will show her insights on the many facets and forms of relationships:
A woman is not to marry a man merely because she is asked, or because he is attached to her, and can write a tolerable letter. — Emma
It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage. A man always imagines a woman to be ready for anybody who asks her. — Emma
I pay very little regard to what any young person says on the subject of marriage. If they profess a disinclination for it, I only set it down that they have not yet seen the right person. — Mansfield Park
Marriage is indeed a maneuvering business. — Mansfield Park
Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. — Persuasion
Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then. — Pride and Prejudice
Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. — Pride and Prejudice
A man does not recover from such a devotion of the heart to such a woman! He ought not; he does not. — Persuasion
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. — Pride and Prejudice
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. — Northanger Abbey
Famous Jane Austen quotes
Here are a few of the most famous Jane Austen quotes:
We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be. — Mansfield Park
One man’s ways may be as good as another’s, but we all like our own best. — Persuasion
How quick come the reasons for approving what we like. — Persuasion
Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure. — Mansfield Park
I will be calm, I will be mistress of myself. — Sense and Sensibility
Nothing ever fatigues me, but doing what I do not like. — Mansfield Park
If someone insists their feet are always firmly on the ground, how else can you discover if their head is sometimes in the clouds? — Sanditon
Those who tell their own story, you know, must be listened to with caution. — Sanditon
Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions. — Manfield Park
It requires uncommon steadiness of reason to resist the attraction of being called the most charming girl in the world. — Northanger Abbey
Best Jane Austen quotes
The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense. — Pride and Prejudice
For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn? — Pride and Prejudice
I do not think I ever opened a book in my life which had not something to say upon woman’s inconstancy. Songs and proverbs, all talk of woman’s fickleness. But perhaps you will say, these were all written by men. — Persuasion
Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings. — Mansfield Park
There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature. — Northanger Abbey
I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun. — Pride and Prejudice
It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy, it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others. — Sense and Sensibility
Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised or a little mistaken. — Emma
The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much! — Sense and Sensibility
Time will explain. — Persuasion
Emma Jane Austen quotes
There is safety in reserve, but no attraction. One cannot love a reserved person. — Emma
It is very difficult for the prosperous to be humble. — Emma
Business, you know, may bring money, but friendship hardly ever does. — Emma
There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort. — Emma
If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. — Emma
I may have lost my heart, but not my self-control. — Emma
Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable. — Emma
Success supposes endeavor. — Emma
Mr. Knightley, if I have not spoken, it is because I am afraid, I will awaken myself from this dream. — Emma
There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves. — Emma
Jane Austen quotes Pride and Prejudice
One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty. — Pride and Prejudice
I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun. — Pride and Prejudice
Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us. — Pride and Prejudice
He is a gentleman, and I am a gentleman’s daughter. So far, we are equal. — Pride and Prejudice
Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion. — Pride and Prejudice
I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library. — Pride and Prejudice
To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love. — Pride and Prejudice
You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged; but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever. — Pride and Prejudice
Is not general incivility the very essence of love? — Pride and Prejudice
There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me. — Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen quotes about feminism
Here are the collection of Jane Austen quotes that speaks about feminism:
I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives. — Persuasion
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. — Mansfield Park
A woman, especially if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can. — Northanger Abbey
She was stronger alone; and her own good sense so well supported her, that her firmness was as unshaken, her appearance of cheerfulness as invariable, as, with regrets so poignant and so fresh, it was possible for them to be. — Sense and Sensibility
I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other. — Emma
There is something so amiable in the prejudices of a young mind, that one is sorry to see them give way to the reception of more general opinions. — Sense and Sensibility
But that woman is a fool indeed who, while insulted by accusation, can be worked on by compliments. — Lady Susan
A young woman in love always looks like Patience on a monument Smiling at Grief. — Northanger Abbey
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. — Northanger Abby
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. — Northanger Abbey
Final thought
These Jane Austin quotes provide valuable insights into love, relationships, and life in general. They remind us that happiness is found within ourselves, and that true love is worth fighting for. They are also give a source of inspiration and comfort, and we hope you can find solace in them as well.
Did you enjoy this collection of Jane Austin quotes? Did any of these quotes resonate with you? Write your thought in the comment section below. Thank you for taking the time to learn about this amazing author.
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