"How little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue." One of Jane Austen's most highly respected and valued talents is her insightful perception into romance, which she often pairs with virtue. However, Austen's propriety regarding romance does not diminish her sentimentality. She deftly defends romantic love by squaring off romance with cynicism and tempering it with facetious wit. "In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels."
"Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance." Marriage is certainly one of Austen's central topics and one she treats with equal parts humor, sentiment and cynicism. This popular quote from Chapter 6 is from Charlotte's conversation with Elizabeth, defending her view of marriage as an entirely practical enterprise. In narration, Austen's wit takes on a sharper edge. Perhaps the most quoted phrase from "Pride and Prejudice" is its opening line: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be on want of a wife."
"Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us." This quote from Chapter 3 reflects the quality of Austen's writing in her precision with words that she combines with her keenly refined insights into human nature.
"Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast." This quote from Chapter 3 illustrates Austen's ability to express her insights into the complexity and contradictions of the human character with pithy precision.
"I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle." This quote from Chapter 58 reflects one of the aspects of Austen's writing for which she is most famous: the complexity of her characters and the redemptive value of self-examination.