50+ Famous Jane Austen Quotes to Inspire and Delight You
Last Updated: 26 Mar 2025
There is something in Jane Austen's quotes that touches the heart. Her sharp sense of humor and her observations on life, love, and society are as relevant now as they were before. Whether you are an old fan of Pride and Prejudice or are discovering her work now, her quotes always say something.
Jane Austen Quotes and Sayings with Poster
“A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”
“A mind lively and at ease, can do with seeing nothing, and can see nothing that does not answer.”
“A person who can write a long letter with ease, cannot write ill.”
“A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can.”
“An artist cannot do anything slovenly.”
“An engaged woman is always more agreeable than a disengaged. She is satisfied with herself. Her cares are over, and she feels that she may exert all her powers of pleasing without suspicion. All is safe with a lady engaged; no harm can be done.”
“Business, you know, may bring you money, but friendship hardly ever does.”
“Dress is at all times a frivolous distinction, and excessive solicitude about it often destroys its own aim.”
“Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies.”
“Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.”
“From politics, it was an easy step to silence.”
“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.”
“Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.”
“I am afraid that the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.”
“I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible.”
“I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.”
“I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle.”
“I would have everybody marry if they can do it properly: I do not like to have people throw themselves away; but everybody should marry as soon as they can do it to advantage.”
“If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.”
“If things are going untowardly one month, they are sure to mend the next.”
“In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels.”
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
“It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before.”
“Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.”
“Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.”
“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.”
“My sore throats are always worse than anyone's.”
“Nobody minds having what is too good for them.”
“Nobody, who has not been in the interior of a family, can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be.”
“Nothing ever fatigues me but doing what I do not like.”
“Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.”
“One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering.”
“One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.”
“One man's style must not be the rule of another's.”
“One man's ways may be as good as another's, but we all like our own best.”
“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.”
“Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure.”
“Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor. Which is one very strong argument in favor of matrimony.”
“Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable.”
“The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love.”
“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
“The power of doing anything with quickness is always prized much by the possessor, and often without any attention to the imperfection of the performance.”
“There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.”
“There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.”
“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.”
“There is safety in reserve, but no attraction. One cannot love a reserved person.”
“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.”
“They are much to be pitied who have not been given a taste for nature early in life.”
“Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.”
“Those who do not complain are never pitied.”
“To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.”
“To flatter and follow others, without being flattered and followed in turn, is but a state of half enjoyment.”
“To look almost pretty is an acquisition of higher delight to a girl who has been looking plain for the first fifteen years of her life than a beauty from her cradle can ever receive.”
“To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.”
“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.”
“Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief.”
“What is right to be done cannot be done too soon.”
“Where an opinion is general, it is usually correct.”
“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.”
Jane Austen's Last Words Quotes
The magic of Austen's quotes is that she explains the complex emotions of humans so intelligently and easily. She always says such things that even today perfectly reflect our relationships, personal growth, and perspective of love. Whatever he writes is relatable; you can read it anytime.