Jane Austen Quotes

Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot's character; vanity of person and of situation. He had been remarkably handsome in his youth; and, at fifty-four, was still a very fine man. Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did; nor could the valet of any new-made lord be more delighted with the place he held in society. He considered the blessing of beauty as inferior only to the blessing of a baronetcy; and the Sir Walter Elliot, who united these gifts, was the constant object of his warmest respect and devotion.

Let him have all the perfections in the world, I think it ought not to be set down as certain that a man must be acceptable to every woman he may happen to like himself.

We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.

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

The less said the better.

I have been a selfish being all my life in practice though not in principle.

A person who can write a long letter with ease cannot write ill.

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