“In Jane Austen it was the critical faculty that would not be quieted; and that faculty in her, played on men and women.”

“Jane Austen's narrative style seems to me to show (especially in the later novels) a curiously chameleon-like faculty; it varies in colour as the habits of expression of the several characters impress themselves on the relation of the episode in which they are involved, and on the description of their situations.”

“Cynicism, like gullibility, is a symptom of underdeveloped critical faculties.”

“Miss Bulstrode had another faculty which demonstrated her superiority over most other women. She could listen.”

“There would be more genuine rejoicing at the discovery of a complete new novel by Jane Austen than any other literary discovery, short of a new major play by Shakespeare.”

“College football would be much more interesting if the faculty played instead of the students, and even more interesting if the trustees played. There would be a great increase in broken arms, legs, and necks, and simultaneously an appreciable diminution in the loss of humanity.”