Jane Austen

“…Elinor was then at liberty to think and be wretched.”

“Marianne was silent; it was impossible for her to say what she did not feel, however trivial the occasion…”

“You are in a melancholy humour, and fancy that any one unlike yourself must be happy. But remember that the pain of parting from friends will be felt by every body at times, whatever be their education or state. Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience — or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope.”

“You have no ambition, I well know. Your wishes are all moderate.''As moderate as those of the rest of the world, I believe. I wish as well as every body else to be perfectly happy, but like every body else it must be in my own way. Greatness will not make me so.”

“She was without any power, because she was without any desire of command over herself.”

“I do not dislike him. I consider him, on the contrary, as a very respectable man, who has everybody's good word and nobody's notice…”

“I am happier than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh. Mr. Darcy sends you all the love in the world, that he can spare from me.”

“Elizabeth's spirit's soon rising to playfulness again, she wanted Mr. Darcy to account for his having ever fallen in love with her. 'How could you begin?' said she.'I can comprehend your going on charmingly, when you had once made a beginning; but what could set you off in the first place?' 'I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

“…Elizabeth, agitated and confused, rather knew that she was happy, than felt herself to be so…”

“How hard it is in some cases to be believed!''And how impossible in others!”

“If he does not come to me, then,' said she, 'I shall give him up for ever.”

“…she endeavoured to forget what she could not overlook…”

“Well, my comfort is, I am sure Jane will die of a broken heart, and then he will be sorry for what he has done.”

“I was uncomfortable enough. I was very uncomfortable, I may say unhappy.”

“…she felt depressed beyond any thing she had ever known before.”

“Elizabeth could never address her without feeling that all the comfort of intimacy was over, and, though determined not to slacken as a correspondent, it was for the sake of what had been, rather than what was.”

“So Lizzy,' said he one day, 'your sister is crossed in love I find. I congratulate her. Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then. It is something to think of, and gives her a sort of distinction among her companions.”

“She had received ideas which disposed her to be courteous and kind to all, and to pity every one, as being less happy than herself.”

“…one half of her should not be always so much wiser than the other half…”

“He had an affectionate heart.  He must love somebody.”

“…she had no resources for solitude…”

“—There will be nothing singular in his case; and it is singularity which often makes the worst part of our suffering, as it always does of our conduct.”

“...but there are some situations of the human mind in which good sense has very little power...”

“It is always good for young people to be put upon exerting themselves; and you know, my dear Catherine, you always were a sad little shatter-brained creature; but now you have been forced to have your wits about you...”

“…each found her greatest safety in silence…”

“His departure gave Catherine the first experimental conviction that a loss may be sometimes a gain.”

“What a revolution in her ideas!”

“The past, present, and future, were all equally in gloom.”

“He must tell his own story.''But he will tell only half of it.''A quarter would be enough.”

“You feel, as you always do, what is most to the credit of human nature.  —Such feelings ought to be investigated, that they may know themselves.”

“You feel, I suppose, that, in losing Isabella, you lose half yourself: you feel a void in your heart which nothing else can occupy.  Society is becoming irksome; and as for the amusements in which you were wont to share at Bath, the very idea of which without her is abhorrent.  You would not, for instance, now go to a ball for the world.  You feel that you have no longer any friend to whom you can speak with unreserve; on whose regard you can place dependence; or whose counsel, in any difficult, you could rely on.”

“…she had nothing to do but to forgive herself and be happier than ever…”

“She hated herself more than she could express.”

“…—We have not all, you know, the same tenderness of disposition…”

“The mere habit of learning to love is the thing; and a teachableness of disposition in a young lady is a great blessing”

“You men have none of you any hearts.''If we have not hearts, we have eyes; and they give us torment enough.”

“I am no novel-reader—I seldom look into novels—Do not imagine that I often read novels—It is really very well for a novel.” Such is the common cant. “And what are you reading, Miss—?” “Oh! It is only a novel!” replies the young lady, while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame. “It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda”; or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language.”

“Every body allows that the talent of writing agreeable letters is peculiarly female.”

“I do not know whether it ought to be so, but certain silly things cease to be silly if done by sensible people in an imprudent way.”

“But there was happiness elsewhere which no description can reach.”

“He had suffered, and he had learnt to think, two advantages that he had never known before…”

“These were reflections that required some time to soften; but time will do almost every thing…”

“Sitting with her on Sunday evening — a wet Sunday evening — the very time of all others when if a friend is at hand the heart must be opened, and every thing told…”

“Every body at all addicted to letter writing, without having much to say, which will include a large proportion of the female world at least…”

“…for I look upon the Frasers to be about as unhappy as most other married people.”

“Her mind was all disorder. The past, present, future, every thing was terrible.”

“I will not talk of my own happiness,' said he, 'great as it is, for I think only of yours. Compared with you, who has the right to be happy?”

“Indeed how can one care for those one has never seen?”

“But it is very foolish to ask questions about any young ladies — about any three sisters just grown up; for one knows, without being told, exactly what they are — all very accomplished and pleasing, and one very pretty. There is a beauty in every family. — It is a regular thing”

“But you must give my compliments to him. Yes — I think it must be compliments. Is not there a something wanted, Miss Price, in our language — a something between compliments and — and love — to suit the sort of friendly acquaintance we have had together? — So many months acquaintance! — But compliments may be sufficient here.”