A List of Famous Jane Austen Quotes By Reference

A list of quotes from Jane Austen. Here are the best Jane Austen quotes on various subjects. The Jane Austen quotations list is alphabetical but can be sorted by any column. Enjoy these sayings coined by Jane Austen. You're able to copy this list to build your own just like it, re-rank it to fit your views, then publish it to share with your Twitter followers, Facebook friends or with any other social networks you use on a regular basis.

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Order Name Author Subjects

1

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

Jane Austen

Income
2

A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can.

Jane Austen

Misfortunes
3

Although our productions have afforded more extensive and unaffected pleasure than those of any other literary corporation in the world, no species of composition has been so much decried. 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 humor, are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language.

Jane Austen

Fiction
4

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 done.

Jane Austen

Engagement
5

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

Jane Austen

Money
6

Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies.

Jane Austen

Neighbors
7

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

Jane Austen

Neighbors
8

From politics it was an easy step to silence.

Jane Austen

Silence
9

Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.

Jane Austen

Marriage
10

Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations, that a young person, who either marries or dies, is sure of being kindly spoken of.

Jane Austen

Judgment and Judges
11

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

Jane Austen

Work
12

In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels.

Jane Austen

Affection
13

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

Jane Austen

Bachelor
14

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

Jane Austen

Marriage
15

It is indolence... Indolence and love of ease; a want of all laudable ambition, of taste for good company, or of inclination to take the trouble of being agreeable, which make men clergymen. A clergyman has nothing to do but be slovenly and selfish; read the newspaper, watch the weather, and quarrel with his wife. His curate does all the work and the business of his own life is to dine.

Jane Austen

Christian Church
16

It may be possible to do without dancing entirely. Instances have been known of young people passing many, many months successively without being at any ball of any description, and no material injury accrue either to body or mind; but when a beginning is made -- when the felicities of rapid motion have once been, though slightly, felt -- it must be a very heavy set that does not ask for more.

Jane Austen

Dance and Dancing
17

It will, I believe, be everywhere found, that as the clergy are, or are not what they ought to be, so are the rest of the nation.

Jane Austen

Christian Church
18

Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.

Jane Austen

Optimism
19

Nobody can tell what I suffer! But it is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied.

Jane Austen

Pity
20

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

Jane Austen

Ridicule
21

One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering.

Jane Austen

Places
22

One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.

Jane Austen

Pleasure
23

One has not great hopes from Birmingham. I always say there is something direful in the sound.

Jane Austen

Cities and City Life
24

Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken.

Jane Austen
25

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

Jane Austen

Woman
26

Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced and the inconvenience is often considerable.

Jane Austen

Surprise
27

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

Jane Austen

Men and Women
28

There is safety in reserve, but no attraction. One cannot love a reserved person.

Jane Austen

Reserve
29

Those who do not complain are never pitied.

Jane Austen

Complaints and Complaining
30

To look almost pretty is an acquisition of higher delight to a girl who has been looking plain for the first fifteen years of her life than a beauty from her cradle can ever receive.

Jane Austen

Woman
31

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

Jane Austen

Nature
32

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

Jane Austen

Cities and City Life
33

What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance.

Jane Austen

Weather
34

Where an opinion is general, it is usually correct.

Jane Austen

Opinions
35

Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation.

Jane Austen

Opportunity
36

With men he can be rational and unaffected, but when he has ladies to please, every feature works.

Jane Austen

Men and Women
37

You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least.

Jane Austen

Fear

Showing items 1 - 25 of 37

A List of Famous Jane Austen Quotes you can use this list to help make your own ranked list about this topic

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

A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can.

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 done.

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

Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies.

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

From politics it was an easy step to silence.

Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.

Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations, that a young person, who either marries or dies, is sure of being kindly spoken of.

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

In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels.

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

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

It will, I believe, be everywhere found, that as the clergy are, or are not what they ought to be, so are the rest of the nation.

Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.

Nobody can tell what I suffer! But it is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied.

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

One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering.

One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.

One has not great hopes from Birmingham. I always say there is something direful in the sound.

Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken.

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

Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced and the inconvenience is often considerable.

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

There is safety in reserve, but no attraction. One cannot love a reserved person.

Those who do not complain are never pitied.

To look almost pretty is an acquisition of higher delight to a girl who has been looking plain for the first fifteen years of her life than a beauty from her cradle can ever receive.

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

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

What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance.

Where an opinion is general, it is usually correct.

Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation.

With men he can be rational and unaffected, but when he has ladies to please, every feature works.

You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least.