1,664 Quotes by Jane Austen

..that sanguine expectation of happiness which is happiness itself

A very narrow income has a tendency to contract the mind, and sour the temper. Those who can barely live, and who live perforce in a very small, and generally very inferior, society, may well be illiberal and cross.

The anxiety, which in this state of their attachment must be the portion of Henry and Catherine, and of all who loved either, as to its final event, can hardly extend, I fear, to the bosom of my readers, who will see in the tell-tale compression of the pages before them, that we are all hastening together to perfect felicity.

This indulgence, though not more than Catherine had hoped for, completed her conviction of being favored beyond every other human creature, in friends and fortune, circumstance and chance. Everything seemed to cooperate for her advantage.

Respect for right conduct is felt by every body.

A distinction to which they had been born gave no pride.

Eleanor went to her room "where she was free to think and be wretched.

She respected, she esteemed, she was grateful to him, she felt a real interest in his welfare; and she only wanted to know how far she wished that welfare to depend upon herself...

There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well.The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and everyday confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of either merit or sense.