Jane Austen

"I shall soon be rested," said Fanny; "to sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure, is the most perfect refreshment."

Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.

I speak what appears to me the general opinion; and where an opinion is general, it is usually correct.

She was of course only too good for him; but as nobody minds having what is too good for them, he was very steadily earnest in the pursuit of the blessing...

We do not look in great cities for our best morality.

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 …

A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.

For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn?

One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.

Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.

To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.

There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well.

That would be the greatest misfortune of all!—To find a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate!—Do not wish me such an evil.

The commonest, dullest, most thread-bare topic might be rendered interesting by the skill of the speaker.

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

People always live forever when there is an annuity to be paid them.

"I am afraid", replied Elinor, "that the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety."

She [Mary I] married Philip King of Spain, who in her sister's reign, was famous for building Armadas.

There were several Battles between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians, in which the former (as they ought) usually won.

It was in this reign that Joan of Arc reigned and made such a row among the English.

Sophia shrieked and fainted on the ground—I screamed and instantly ran mad! We remained thus mutually deprived of our senses some minutes, and on regaining them were deprived of them again. For an hour and a quarter did we continue in this …

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.

Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor, which is one very strong argument in favour of matrimony.

I would recommend to her and Mr. D. the simple regimen of separate rooms.