To celebrate the birth of Jane Austen on this day (December 16) in 1775, here are some of our favourite quotes from her novels.
- “Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure.” Mansfield Park
- “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
- “One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.” Pride and Prejudice
- “Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable.” Emma
- “Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.” Mansfield Park
- “One cannot have too large a party.” Emma
- “A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.” Mansfield Park
- “For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?” Pride and Prejudice
- “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
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