Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

Jane Austen Novelist

  • Gender: Female
  • Citizenship: United Kingdom
  • Born: Dec 16, 1775
  • Died: Jul 18, 1817

Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her realism, biting irony and social commentary as well as her acclaimed plots have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics.

Austen lived her entire life as part of a close-knit family located on the lower fringes of the English landed gentry. She was educated primarily by her father and older brothers as well as through her own reading. The steadfast support of her family was critical to her development as a professional writer. From her teenage years into her thirties she experimented with various literary forms, including an epistolary novel which she then abandoned, wrote and extensively revised three major novels and began a fourth. From 1811 until 1816, with the release of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma, she achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began a third, which was eventually titled Sanditon, but died before completing it.

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

It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage. marriage

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

Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love. friendship & love

One man's ways may be as good as another's, but we all like our own best. best

Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor. Which is one very strong argument in favor of matrimony. women

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

The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid. good

Good-humoured, unaffected girls, will not do for a man who has been used to sensible women. They are two distinct orders of being. women

A lady's imagination is very rapid it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment. imagination

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort. home

From politics, it was an easy step to silence. politics

Respect for right conduct is felt by every body. respect

I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal. great

They are much to be pitied who have not been given a taste for nature early in life. nature

There are certainly not so many men of large fortune in the world, as there are pretty women to deserve them. women

Business, you know, may bring you money, but friendship hardly ever does. business, friendship & money

Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure. forgiveness & hope

Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. happiness & marriage

General benevolence, but not general friendship, made a man what he ought to be. friendship

To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment. nature