With the revived interest in Jane Austen, now that she has become a famous screen writer, I wanted to make available to those who might not otherwise be inclined to read her, some passages that I think show her wit, style, and brilliance. The movies may capture to some extent the actions and characters in her works, but they do not capture her descriptive narratives or the full force of the dialogue.

Therefore I offer these passages so that you may sample the flavor of her writing. Watching "her" movies is like being at the events she describes and meeting the participants; it is not hearing her descriptions of those people and events. To my mind, her descriptions are the most important part of her stories. I would encourage those who find these passages enjoyable to read her books in their entirety.

 (Apology: I have lost some of the editions the page numbers below refer to, but I leave them in as relative markers for whatever editions you may be using in order to help you narrow searching for these passages.)

2) p.18 She was a woman who spent her days in sitting nicely dressed on a sofa, doing some long piece of needlework of little use and no beauty, thinking more of her pug than of her children, but very indulgent to the latter when it did not put herself to inconvenience.

3) p. 20 He...tried to make her good qualities understood and to conquer the diffidence which prevented their being more apparent. [...] kept back as she was by everybody else, his single support could not bring her forward, but his attentions were otherwise of the highest importance in assisting the improvement of her mind, and extending its pleasures.... He recommended the books which charmed her leisure hours.  ...he encouraged her taste, and corrected her judgement; he made reading useful by talking to her of what she read, and heightened its attraction by judicious praise.

4) p. 182 It was long before Fanny could recover from the agitating happiness of such an hour as was formed by the last thirty minutes of expectation and the first of fruition.

5) p. 253 Fanny...knew too much opposition all her life to find any charm in it.

6) p.318 Where nature had made so little difference, circumstances...made so much.

7) p. 352 ...a bad thing, done in the worst manner, and at the worst time....

8) p. 352 Julia was as more pardonable than Maria as folly than vice.

10) p. 17 Singularity often makes the worst part of our suffering, as it always does of our conduct.

11) p. 30 Half the sum of attraction on either side might have been enough, for he had nothing to do, and she had hardly anybody to love.

12) p. 30 ...a man who had nothing but himself to recommend him...

13) p. 31 Spending freely what had come freely, he had realized nothing.

14) p. 31 Lady Russell had little taste for wit.

15) p. 39 She had no resources for solitude.

16) p. 55 Off they ran, quite as full of glee as of love....

17) p. 71 Once she felt that he was looking at herself-- observing her altered features, perhaps trying to trace in them the ruins of the face which had once charmed him....

18) p. 79 She was ashamed of being so nervous, so overcome by such a trifle; but so it was; and it required a long application of solitude and reflection to recover her.

19) p. 97 ...like many other great moralists and preachers, she had been eloquent on a point in which her own conduct would ill bear examination.

20) p.136 The folly of the means they often employ is only to be equaled by the folly of what they have in view.

21) p. 143 ...good company...is the company of clever, well- informed people, who have a great deal of conversation.

22) p. 145 ...an old schoolfellow...had two strong claims on her attention, of past kindness and present suffering.

23) p. 146 ...a woman of seven and twenty with every beauty excepting bloom, and with manners as consciously right as they were invariably gentle.

24) p. 147 In spite of all this [hardship]...she had moments only of languor and depression to hours of occupation and enjoyment. ...here was that elasticity of mind, that disposition to be comforted, that power of turning readily from evil to good, and of finding employment which carried her out of herself.

25) p. 153 She felt that she could so much more depend upon the sincerity of those who sometimes looked or said a careless or hasty thing, than of those whose presence of mind never varied, whose tongue never slipped.

26) p. 181 ...never had she sacrificed to politeness with a more suffering spirit.

27) p. 183 Their union, she believed, could not divide her more from other men than their final separation.

28) p. 183 Prettier musings of high-wrought love and eternal constancy could never have passed along the streets....it was almost enough to spread purification and perfume all the way.

29) p. 199 It was a dreadful picture of ingratitude and inhumanity.

30) p. 221 We certainly do not forget you so soon as you forget us. It is perhaps our fate rather than our merit. We cannot help ourselves. We live at home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us. You are forced on exertion. You have always a profession, pursuits, business of some sort or other, to take you back into the world immediately; and continual occupation and change soon weaken impressions.

31) p. 229 [after a time] ... more tender, more tried, more fixed in a knowledge of each other's character.

32) p. 229 ...he had imagined himself indifferent, when he had only been angry...

33) p. 229 ...he had been unjust to her merits because he had been a sufferer from them.

34) p. 230 Only at Uppercross had he learned to do her justice, and only at Lyme had he begun to understand himself.

35) p. 230 ...he had learnt to distinguish between the steadiness of principle and the obstinacy of self-will, between the darings of heedlessness and the resolution of a collected mind.

36) p. 230 ...he began to feel alive, not at liberty.

37) p. 231 [That he thought her beautiful still] she felt to be the result, not the cause, of his warm attachment.

38) p. 233 It was but a card-party...a mixture of those who had never met before, and those who met too often--a commonplace business, too numerous for intimacy, too small for variety.

39) p. 235 [He, on her consent to marry him:] "It is a sort of pain which is new to me. I have been used to the gratification of believing myself to earn every blessing that I enjoyed. I have valued myself on honorable toils and just rewards. Like other great men under reverses," he added, with a smile, "I must endeavour to subdue my mind to my fortune. I must learn to brook being happier than I deserve."

40) p. 236 How should a Captain Wentworth and an Anne Elliot, with the advantage of maturity of mind, consciousness of right, and one independent fortune between them, fail of bearing down every opposition? They might in fact have borne down a great deal more than they met with.

41) p. 236 ...the want of graciousness and warmth...

42) p. 236 ...he was a foolish, spendthrift baronet who had not had principle or sense enough to maintain himself in the situation in which Providence had placed him.

43) p. 237 She had been unfairly influenced by appearances in each: that because Captain Wentworth's manners had not suited her own ideas, she had been too quick in suspecting them to indicate a character of dangerous impetuosity; and that because Mr. Elliot's manners had precisely pleased her in their propriety and correctness, their general politeness and suavity, she had been too quick in receiving them as the certain result of the most correct opinions and well-regulated mind. ...there was nothing left for her to do but to admit that she had been pretty completely wrong, and to take up a new set of opinions and hopes.

44) p.238 ...her affections had overpowered her interest.

45) p.40 When she was called a beautiful girl, truth was less violently outraged than usually happens.

46) p.40 mention any favourite amusement to engage her to talk. She could not be silent when such points were introduced, and she had neither shyness nor reserve in their discussion. They speedily discovered that their enjoyment of dancing and music was mutual, and that it arose from a general conformity of judgment in all that related to either. Encouraged by this to a further examination of his opinions, she proceeded to question him on the subject of books; her favourite authors were brought forward and dwelt upon with so rapturous a delight that any young man of five and twenty must have been insensible indeed not to become an immediate convert to the excellence of such works, however disregarded before. Their taste was strikingly alike. The same books, the same passages were idolized by each; or if any difference appeared, any objection arose, it lasted no longer than till the force of her arguments and the brightness of her eyes could be displayed. He acquiesced in all her decisions, caught all her enthusiasm; and long before his visit concluded, they conversed with the familiarity of a long-established acquaintance.

47) p.41 I have been too much at my ease, too happy, too frank. I have erred against every commonplace notion of decorum; I have been open and sincere where I ought to have been reserved, spiritless, dull, and deceitful: had I talked only of the weather and the roads, and had I spoken only once in ten minutes, this reproach would have been spared.

48) p. 42 He...was capable of attaching her; and his behavior declared his wishes to be in that respect as earnest as his abilities were strong.

49) p. 43 But perhaps the abuse of such people as yourself...will make amends for the regard of Lady Middleton and her mother. If their praise is censure, your censure may be praise, for they are not more undiscerning than you are prejudiced and unjust.

50) p. 44 ...he is a very respectable man who has everybody's good word and nobody's notice; who has more money than he can spend, more time than he knows how to employ, and two new coats every year.... He has neither genius, taste, nor spirit; ...his understanding has no brilliancy, his feelings no ardour, and his voice no expression.

51) p.45 ...she abhorred all concealment where no real disgrace could attend unreserve; and to aim at the restraint of sentiments which were not in themselves illaudible appeared to her not merely an unnecessary effort but a disgraceful subjection of reason to commonplace and mistaken notions. Willoughby thought the same; and their behavior at all times was an illustration of their opinions.

52) p. 45 When he was present she had no eyes for anyone else. Everything he did was right. Everything he said was clever. If their evenings at the park were concluded with cards, he cheated himself and all the rest of the party to get her a good hand. If dancing formed the amusement of the night, they were partners for half the time; and when obliged to separate for a couple of dances, were careful to stand together and scarcely spoke a word to anyone else. Such conduct made them, of course, most exceedingly laughed at; but ridicule could not shame and seemed hardly to provoke them.

53) p. 46 Lady Middleton was more agreeable than her mother, only in being more silent.

54) p. 46 ... her insipidity was invariable, for even her spirits were always the same.

55) p. 53 They were all in high spirits and good humour, eager to be happy, and determined to submit to the greatest inconveniences and hardships rather than be otherwise.

56) p. 57 The pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.

57) p. 58 I value not her censure any more than I should do her commendation.

58) p. 66 I want no proof of their affection...but of their engagement.

59) p. 74 ...overcome by the captivating manners of....

60) p. 86 [as to self-control]... with strong affections, it was impossible; with calm ones it could have no merit.

61) p. 86 ...by the nature of their employments, conversation was forbidden among them, and every effect of solitude was produced.

62) p. 99 [It was said a certain child was such a quiet little thing but]...this pattern of gentleness produced such violent screams as could hardly be outdone by any creature professedly noisy.

63) p. 99 ...with a reward for her tears, the child was too wise to cease crying.

64) p. 104 He...joined insincerity with ignorance.

65) p. 133 ...the anxiety of expectation and the pain of disappointment.

66) p. 140 Marianne, wholly dispirited, careless of her appearance, and seeming equally indifferent whether she went or stayed, prepared without one look of hope or one expression of pleasure.

67) p. 140 ...they were permitted to mingle in the crowd and take their share of the heat and inconvenience.

68) p. 160 ...her sufferings have been very severe; I have only to hope that they may be proportionally short.

69) p. 162 She expected from other people the same opinions and feelings as her own, and she judged of their motives by the immediate effects of their actions on herself.

70) p. 170 She felt the loss of Willoughby's character more heavily than she felt the loss of his heart.

71) p. 177 ...a person and face of strong, natural, sterling insignificance, though adorned in the first style of fashion.

72) p. 183 He had just compunction enough for having done nothing for his sister himself to be exceedingly anxious that everybody else should do a great deal.

73) p. 187 She was a little, thin woman, upright, even to formality, in her figure, and serious, even to sourness, in her aspect.

74) p. 187...she was not a woman of many words; for, unlike people in general, she proportioned them to the number of her ideas.

75) p. 188 The dinner was a grand one, the servants were numerous, and everything bespoke the mistress's inclination for show and the master's ability to support it....no poverty of any kind, except of conversation, appeared, but there the deficiency was considerable. John Dashwood had not much to say for himself that was worth hearing, and his wife had still less. But there was no peculiar disgrace in this, for it was very much the case with the chief of their visitors, who almost all laboured under one or other of these disqualifications for being agreeable: want of sense, either natural or improved; want of elegance, want of spirits, or want of temper.

76) p. 200 The party, like other musical parties, comprehended a great many people who had real taste for the performance, and a great many more who had none at all.

77) p. 202 She...agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition.

78) p. 211 ...to appear indifferent where...most deeply interested, ...to contend against the unkindness of his sister and the insolence of his mother...

79) p. 211 ...nothing has proved him unworthy; nor has anything declared him indifferent to me.

80) p. 211 ...the composure of mind with which I...consider the matter and the consolation that I have been willing to admit, have been the effect of constant and painful exertion; they did not spring up themselves; they did not occur to relieve my spirits at first.

81) p. 216 ...(futile) self-reproach...and regret...that... brought only the torture of penitence without the hope of amendment.

82) p. 232 You owe it to your own merit...and Colonel Brandon's discern p. 237 She would not be so weak as to throw away the comfort of a child and yet retain the anxiety of a parent.

84) p. 242 She left no creature behind from whom it would give a moment's regret to be divided forever; she was pleased to be free from the persecution of Lucy's friendship.

85) p. 244 Her folly, though evident, was not disgusting because it was not conceited; and Eleanor could have forgiven everything but her [silly and affected] laugh.

86) p. 251 He gave...encouraging assurances which reached her ear but could not enter her heart.

87) p. 277 Do not let your kindness defend what I know your judgment must censure.

88) p. 278 Whenever I looked toward the past, I saw some duty neglected or some failing indulged.

89) p. 290 He was released without any reproach to himself from an entanglement which had long formed his misery, from a woman whom he had long ceased to love; and elevated at once to that security which he must have thought of with despair as soon as he had learned to consider it with desire.

90) p. 291 I had nothing...in the world to do but to fancy myself in love; and as my mother did not make my home in every respect comfortable, as I had no friend, no companion in my brother, and disliked new acquaintance, it was not unnatural for me to be very often at Lonstaple, where I always felt myself at home and was always sure of a welcome; and accordingly I spent the greatest part of my time there from eighteen to nineteen: Lucy appeared everything that was amiable and obliging. She was pretty, too. At least, I thought so then, and I had seen so little of other women that I could make no comparisons and see no defects. Considering everything, therefore, I hope, foolish as our engagement was, foolish as it has since in every way been proved, it was not at the time an unnatural or an inexcusable piece of folly.

91) p. 291 ...she did not know...how at once to give them leisure for unrestrained conversation together and yet enjoy, as she wished, the sight and society of both.

92) p. 291 ..she was everything by turns but tranquil.

93) p. 302 The whole of Lucy's behaviour... and the prosperity which crowned it, may be held forth as a most encouraging instance of what an earnest, an unceasing attention to self- interest, however its progress may be apparently obstructed, will do in securing every advantage of fortune, with no other sacrifice than that of time and conscience.

95) p. 9 ...a child...who had no taste for a garden; and if she gathered flowers at all it was chiefly for the pleasure of mischief.

96) p. 10 She could never learn or understand anything before she was taught; and sometimes not even then, for she was often inattentive, and occasionally stupid.

97) p. 10 ...her mother...did not insist on her daughter's being accomplished in spite of incapacity or distaste.... The day which dismissed the musicmaster was one of the happiest of her life.

98) p. 10 ...she had neither a bad heart nor a bad temper.

99) p. 11 Provided that nothing like useful information could be gained from them, provided they were all story and no reflection, she had never any objection to books at all.

100) p. 13 Her heart was affectionate; her disposition cheerful and open, without conceit or affectation of any kind--her manners just removed from the awkwardness and shyness of a girl; her person pleasing, and when in good looks, pretty--and her mind about as ignorant and uninformed as the female mind at seventeen usually is.

101) p. 15 She had neither beauty, genius, accomplishment, nor manner.

102) p. 27 ...the fresh air of (good) company.

103) p. 28 ...called conversation, but in which there was scarcely ever any exchange of opinion, and not often any resemblance of subject, for Mrs. Thorpe talked chiefly of her children, and Mrs. Allen of her gowns.

104) p. 30 It is...in short...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. Now, had the same young lady been engaged with a volume of the Spectator, instead of such a work, how proudly would she have produced the book, and told its name; though the chances must be against her being occupied by any part of that voluminous publication, of which either the matter or manner would not disgust a young person of taste: the substance of its papers so often consisting in the statement of improbable conversation which no longer concern anyone living; and their language, too, frequently so coarse as to give no very favourable idea of the age that could endure it.

105) p. 40 Where youth and diffidence are united, it requires uncommon steadiness of reason to resist the attraction of being called the most charming girl in the world.

106) p. 42 ...whispering to each other whenever a thought occurred and supplying the place of many ideas by a squeeze of the hand or a smile of affection.

107) p. 50 Her...vacancy of mind and incapacity for thinking were such that as she never talked a great deal, so she could never be entirely silent; and, therefore while she sat at her work, if she lost her needle or broke her thread, if she heard a carriage in the street, or saw a speck upon her gown, she must observe it aloud, whether there were anyone at leisure to answer her or not.

108) p. 54 She had not been brought up to understand the propensities of a rattle, nor to know how many idle assertions and impudent falsehoods the excess of vanity will lead.

109) p. 55 He did not excel in giving clearer insights, in making those things plain which he had before made ambiguous.

110) p. 56 ...his power of giving universal pleasure.

111) p. 61 Dress is at all times a frivolous distinction, and excessive solicitude about it often destroys its own aim.

112) p. 64 In matrimony and in dancing...in both, man has the advantage of choice, woman only the power of refusal; that in both, it is an engagement between man and woman, formed for the advantage of each; and that when once entered into, they belong exclusively to each other till the moment of its dissolution; that it is their duty, each to endeavor to give the other no cause for wishing that he or she had bestowed themselves elsewhere,and their best interest to keep their own imagination from wandering towards the perfections of their neighbors, or fancying that they should have been better off with anyone else.

113) p. 66 ...in pursuit only of amusement all day long.

114) p. 67 He was a very handsome man, of a commanding aspect, past the bloom, but not past the vigour of life.

115) p. 89 She had broken a promise to them in order to do what was wrong in itself...she had been guilty of one breach of propriety only to enable her to be guilty of another.

116) p. 91 [concerning history:]...the quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or pestilences, in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all--it is very tiresome.

117) p. 92 [concerning historians:] To be at so much trouble in filling great volumes, which...nobody would willingly ever look into, to be labouring only for the torment of little boys and girls, always struck me as a hard fate...and I have often wondered at the person's courage that could sit down on purpose and do it.

118) p. 94 A woman, especially, if she has the misfortune of knowing anything should conceal it as well as she can.

119) p. 94 Imbecility in women is not a great enhancement of their personal charms.

120) p. 95 ...they...want [lack] observation, discernment, judgment, fire, genius, and wit.

121) p. 96 No one can think more highly of the understanding of women than I do. In my opinion, nature has given them so much that they never find it necessary to use more than half.

122) p. 97 His manner might sometimes surprise, but his meaning must always be just.

123) p. 97 ...what she did not understand, she was almost as ready to admire as what she did.

124) p. 97 ...the only difficulty on Catherine's side was in concealing the excess of her pleasure.

125) p. 110 I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible.

126) p. 111 To be always firm must be to be often obstinate. When properly to relax is the trial of judgment.

127) p. 120 I cannot return his affection...and certainly never meant to encourage it.

128) p. 125 It is probable that she will neither love [James] so well, nor flirt so well [with Frederick], as she might do either singly. The gentlemen must each give up a little.

129) p. 126 Is he safe only in her solitude? Is her heart constant to him only when unsolicited by anyone else?

130) p. 128 ...severity of...reproof which seemed disproportionate to the offense.

131) p. 141 Not one was left unsearched, and in not one was anything found.

132) p. 145 You have gained a new source of enjoyment and it is well to have as many holds on happiness as possible.

133) pp. 148-9 [pertaining to his garden] The utmost care could not always secure the most valuable fruits.... ...he never entered his without being vexed, in some way or other, by its falling short of his plan.

134) p. 153...information which she neither doubted nor cared for.

135) p. 158 ...by that, her eye was instantly caught and long retained.

136) p. 159 [concerning inheriting features in this particular family] A face once taken was taken for generations.

137) p. 162 He seemed always at hand when least wanted.

138) p. 165 Though his temper injured her, his judgment never did.

139) p. 167 But in the central part of England there was surely some security for the existence even of a wife not beloved, in the laws of the land and the manners of the age. Murder was not tolerated, servants were not slaves, and neither poison nor sleeping potions were to be procured, like rhubarb, from every druggist.

140) p. 171 He...was not the first son to choose a wife with less sense than his family expected. [He was] not to be envied as a lover or a son.

141) p. 177 If Wednesday should ever come! It did come, and exactly when it might be reasonably looked for.

142) p. 190 She only wanted to know how far, after what had passed, an apology might properly be received by her. But the knowledge would have been useless here; it was not called for; neither clemency nor dignity was put to trial.

143) p. 192 She began [her journey] without either dreading its length or feeling its solitariness.

144) p. 199 Looking forward to pleasures untasted and unalloyed....

145) p. 199 ...free from the apprehension of evil as from the knowledge of it.

146) p. 200 There was a great deal of good sense in all this; but there are some situation of the human mind in which good sense has very little power; and Catherine's feelings contradicted almost every position her mother advanced.

147) p. 201 [concerning a summary of events for the reader:] I have united for their ease what they must divide for mine.

148) p. 201 ...she scarcely sinned against his character, or magnified his cruelty.

149) p. 202 He felt himself bound as much in honor as in affection to her.

150) p. 210 [near the end of a book] The readers...will be able to see in the tell-tale compression of the pages before them....

151) p. 210 ...threw him into a fit of good humour from which he did not [easily] recover.

152) p. 210 ...I know no one more entitled, by unpretending merit, or better prepared by habitual suffering, to receive and enjoy felicity.

153) p. 211 To begin perfect happiness at the respective ages of twenty six and eighteen is to do pretty well; and professing myself moreover convinced that the general's unjust interference, so far from being really injurious to their felicity, was perhaps rather conducive to it, by improving their knowledge of each other, and adding strength to their attachment, I leave it to be settled, by whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny, or reward filial disobedience.

155) p. 7 ...when she was discontented she fancied herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news.

156) p. 11 He was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased.

157) p. 16 ...a collection of people in whom there was little beauty and no fashion.

158) p. 19 The argument ended only with the visit.

159) p. 21 Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other, or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation, and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life.

160) p. 23 Having, in consequence of being the only plain one in the family, worked hard for knowledge and accomplishments, [she] was alway impatient for display.

161) p. 23 ...Mary had neither genius nor taste; and though vanity had given her application, it had given her likewise a pedantic air and conceited manner, which would have injured a higher degree of excellence than she had reached.

162) p. 29 Every impulse of feeling should be guided by reason.

163) p. 34 I should think it more possible to get [the house you want] by purchase than by imitation.

164) p. 35 I never saw such capacity, and taste, and application, and elegance as you describe united [in any one woman].

165) p. 40 "I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love," said Darcy. "Of a fine, stout, healthy love it may be. Everything nourishes what is strong already. But if it be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I am convinced that one good sonnet will starve it entirely away."

166) p. 43 ...a rapidity of thought and carelessness of execution....

167) p. 53 The conversation had lost much of its animation and almost all of its sense.

168) p. 55 It might seem disrespectful to his memory for me to be on good terms with any one with whom it had always pleased him to be at variance.

169) p. 57 He had heard much of their beauty but in this instance fame had fallen far short of the truth. [or better perhaps, "far short of the fact."]

170) p. 61 He...was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society.

171) p. 62 ...in his library he had been always sure of leisure and tranquility; and though prepared...to meet with folly and conceit in every other room in the house, he was used to be free from them there.

172) p. 82 It is particularly incumbent on those who never change their opinion to be secure of judging properly at first.

173) p. 89 She could not determine whether the silent contempt of the gentlemen or the insolent smiles of the ladies were more intolerable.

174) p. 106 ...stupidity with which he was favored by nature...

175) p. 107 He...was neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary.

176) p. 111 She had been barbarously used by them all...nothing could console and nothing appease her. Nor did that day wear out her resentment.

177) pp. 111-112 The match surprised her but...she said less of her astonishment than of her earnest desire for their happiness.

178) p. 117 There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and everyday confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of either merit or sense.

179) p. 117 ...I should only think worse of her understanding than I now do of her heart.

180) p. 117 ...[do not] endeavor to persuade me that selfishness is prudence, and insensibility of danger, security for happiness.

181) p. 119 "Your sister is crossed in love...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. When is your turn to come? You will hardly bear to be long outdone by Jane. Now is your time. There are officers enough [nearby] to disappoint all the young ladies in the country. Let Wickham be your man. He is a pleasant fellow, and would jilt you creditably." "Thank you, sir, but a less agreeable man would satisfy me. We must not all expect Jane's good fortune." "True...but it is a comfort to think that whatever of that kind may befall you, you have an affectionate mother who will always make the most of it."

182) p. 120 ...greatly superior to his sister by nature as well as education...

183) p.121 "['violently in love': a phrase] so indefinite that it gives me very little idea. The expression is as often applied to feelings which arise from an half-hour's acquaintance as to a real, strong attachment. Pray, how violent was his love?"
"He was growing quite inattentive to other people and wholly engrossed by her.... At his own ball he offended two or three young ladies by not asking them to dance, and I spoke to him twice myself, without receiving an answer. Could there be finer symptoms? Is not general incivility the very essense of love?"

184) p. 124 You are too sensible a girl, Lizzy, to fall in love merely because you are warned against it.

185) p. 124 ...my fathers's opinion of me does me the greatest honor; and I should be miserable to forfeit it.

186) p. 125 Young people are seldom withheld by immediate want of fortune from entering into engagement with each other.

187) p. 127 My confidence was as natural as your suspicion.

188) p. 131 She had known Sir William too long; his civilities were worn out like his information.

189) p. 135 When her husband could be forgotten there was really a great air of comfort throughout, and by his wife's evident enjoyment, it could be supposed he must often be forgotten.

190) p. 138 She was but slightly affected by his enumeration of the windows in front of the house, and his relation of what the glazing altogether had originally cost.

191) p. 138 ...she had heard nothing of Lady Catherine that spoke her awful from any extraordinary talents or miraculous virtue, and the mere stateliness of money and rank she thought she could witness without trepidation.

192) p. 140 Nothing was beneath this great lady's attention which could furnish her with an occasion of dictating to others.

193) p. 152 She could not have bestowed her kindness on a more grateful object.

194) p. 154 He had pleasure in their society, a persuasion which of course recommended him still more [to them].

195) p. 154 ...it seemed the effect of necessity rather than choice-- a sacrifice to propriety, not a pleasure to himself.

196) p. 159 He had ruined for a while every hope of happiness for the most affectionate, generous heart in the world.

197) p. 159 ...his pride would receive a deeper wound from the want of importance in his friend's connections than from their want of sense.

198) p.160 ... to contribute to the recovery of her spirits by all that affection could do.

199) p. 161 ...express a sense of obligation for the sentiments avowed, however unequally they may be returned.

200) p. 162 I have never desired your good opinion and you have bestowed it most unwillingly.

201) p. 164 The [arrogant] mode of your declaration affected me in no other way than as it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner.

202) p. 165 It was gratifying to have unconsciously inspired so strong an affection.

203) p. 166 Your feelings will bestow [what I ask] unwillingly, but I demand it of your justice.

204) p. 181 They were ignorant, idle, and vain.

205) p. 184 "How much I shall have to tell!"
"And how much I shall have to conceal!"

206) p. 189 He delivered his sentiments in a manner so little suited to recommend them.

207) p. 189 ...she would willingly have gone through the world without believing that so much wickedness existed in the whole race of mankind as was here collected in one individual.

208) p. 190 There certainly was some great mismanagement in the education of those two young men; one has got all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it.

209) p. 193 The dejection was almost universal.

210) p. 194 It was in vain to attempt to make her more reasonable or resigned.

211) p. 196 She cannot grow many degrees worse [behaved] without authorizing us to lock her up for the rest of her life.

212) p. 196 ...it was not in her nature however to increase her vexations by dwelling on them. She was confident of having performed her duty, and to fret over unavoidable evils, or augment them by anxiety, was no part of her disposition.

213) p. 199 Had Elizabeth's opinion been all drawn from her own family, she could not have formed a very pleasing picture of conjugal felicity or domestic comfort. Her father, captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humour which youth and beauty generally give, had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her. Respect, esteem, and confidence, had vanished forever; and all his views of domestic happiness were overthrown. But Mr. Bennet was not of a disposition to seek comfort for the disappointment which his own imprudence had brought on in any of those pleasures which too often console the unfortunate for their folly or their vice. He was fond of the country and of books; and from these tastes had arisen his principle enjoyments. To his wife he was very little otherwise indebted than as her ignorance and folly had contributed to his amusement. This is not the sort of happiness which a man would in general wish to owe to his wife; but where other powers of entertainment are wanting, the true philosopher will derive benefit from such as are given.

214) p. 200 Events to which she had looked forward with impatient desire did not in taking place bring all the satisfaction she had promised herself.

215) p. 200 ...the pleasure of anticipation...

216) p. 201 A scheme of which every part promises delight can never be successful; and general disappointment is only warded off by the defense of some little peculiar vexation.

217) p. 201 Her letters were always long expected, and always very short.

218) p. 219 [All that he said and did] ... convinced her that the improvement of manners which she had yesterday witnessed, however temporary its existence might prove, had at least outlived one day.

219) p. 220 [She was] capable of considering the last half hour with some satisfaction, though while it was passing, the enjoyment of it had been little.

220) p. 233 Neither her virtue nor her understanding would preserve her from falling an easy prey.

221) p. 236 She has been given up to nothing but amusement and vanity.

222) p. 238 Fixed [in her thoughts] by the keenest of all anguish, self-reproach, she could find no interval of ease or forgetfulness.

223) p. 260 She was more alive to the disgrace which the want of new clothes must reflect on her daughter's nuptials, than to any sense of shame at her eloping and living with Wickham a fortnight before they took place.

224) p. 261 It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both-- by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manner improved; and from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance.

225) p. 261 ...how little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue, she could easily conjecture.

226) p. 269 If you are really innocent and ignorant, I must be more explicit.

227) p. 274 Remaining partiality for her might assist his endeavours in a cause where her peace of mind must be materially concerned.

228) p. 284 He came only to be silent, grave, and indifferent.

229) p. 284 ...you are in very great danger of making him...in love with you.

230) p. 290 Nothing could provoke his ridicule or disgust him into silence.

231) p. 294 Till I have your disposition, your goodness, I could never have your happiness.

232) p. 297 "I am entitled to know all his concerns." "But you are not entitled to know mine."

233) p. 299 "I have not been in the habit of brooking disappointment." "That will make your situation...more pitiable, but it will have no effect on me."

234) p. 305 You ought certainly to forgive them as a Christian, but never to admit them in your sight, or allow their names to be mentioned in your hearing. That is his notion of Christian forgiveness.

235) p. 306 It was necessary to laugh when she would rather have cried. Her father had most cruelly mortified her by what he said of Mr. Darcy's indifference, and she could do nothing but wonder at such a want of penetration, or fear that perhaps instead of his seeing too little, she might have fancied too much.

236) p. 308 After abusing you so abominably to your face, I could have no scruple in abusing you to all your relations.

237) p. 308 ...we will not quarrel for the greater share of blame...the conduct of neither will be irreproachable, but since then, we have both, I hope, improved in civility.

238) p. 310 ...given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit.

239) p. 312 He...had been a most delightful friend; so easily guided that his worth was invaluable.

240) p.313 In such cases as these, a good memory is unpardonable.

241) p. 313 ...not of a disposition in which happiness overflows in mirth.

242) p. 315 [Whether she was violently for or violently against,] it was certain that her manner would be equally ill- adapted to do credit to her sense; and she could no more bear that [he] should hear the first raptures of her joy, than the first vehemence of her disapprobation.

243) p. 320 My good qualities are under your protection, and you are to exaggerate them as much as possible.

244) p. 320 ...how unlucky that you should have a reasonable answer to give and that I should be so reasonable as to admit it.

245) p. 321 I am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh.

246) p. 322 [She] was not deceived, but she was affected.

247) p. 323 She was occasionally nervous and invariably silly.

248) 324 irritable...ignorant...and insipid.

249) 326 He inspired in her a respect which almost overcame her affection [for him].

251) p. 14 He had never been an unhappy man; his own temper had secured him from that even in his first marriage; but his second must show him how delightful a well-judging and truly amiable woman could be, and must give him the pleasantest proof of its being a great deal better to choose than to be chosen, to excite gratitude than to feel it.

252) p. 15 His visit...had often been talked of but never achieved.

253) p. 16 ...hours of gratitude and moments of regret....

254) p. 17 She had never boasted either beauty or cleverness.

255) p. 22 For Mrs. Weston there was nothing to be done; for Harriet, everything.

256) p. 29 [a] deficiency of useful understanding.

257) p. 31 ...subjection of fancy to the understanding....

258) p. 33 Is is very good advice; and it shall have a better fate than your advice has often found; for it shall be attended to.

259) p.40 [She was fearful of inconveniencing him] while he seemed mostly fearful of not being [inconvenienced] enough.

260) p. 45 A woman is not to marry a man merely because she is asked or because he is attached to her and can write a tolerable letter.

261) p. 50 He does seem to have had some scruples; it is a pity they were ever got over.

262) p. 50 ...he is as much her superior in sense as in situation....

263) p. 50 ...she has been taught nothing useful, and is too young and too simple to have acquired anything herself.

264) p. 52 Till it appears that men are much more philosophic on the subject of beauty than they are generally supposed, till they do fall in love with well-informed minds instead of handsome faces, a girl with such loveliness as Harriet has a certainty of being admired and sought after....

265) p. 52 ...better to be without sense than to misapply it as you do.

266) p. 53 Vanity working on a weak head produces every sort of mischief.

267) p. 56 ...a reasonable, becoming degree of prudence, she was sure, did not belong to him....

268) p. 57 She was sorry but could not repent.

269) p. 60 A ready wit?-- a man must be very much in love indeed to describe her so.

270) p. 72 The poor were as sure of relief from her personal attention and kindness as from her purse.

271) p. 77 His temper was not his great perfection.

272) p. 77 ...all the pain of apprehension was to be frequently endured though the offence came not.

273) p. 78 I, being a husband, and you, not being a wife, the claims of the man may very likely strike us....

274) p. 88 The hours were to be early as well as the numbers few.

275) p.91 When a man does his best with only moderate powers, he will have the advantage over negligent superiority.

276) p. 93 She could not be complying, she dreaded being quarrelsome; her heroism reached only to silence.

277) p. 95 ...little labor, and great enjoyment...

278) p. 96 He was continually obtruding his happy countenance on her notice.

279) p. 96 ...admired her drawings with so much zeal and so little knowledge....

280) p. 97 She had the comfort of appearing very polite while feeling very cross.

281) p. 98 He...had only drunk wine enough to elevate his spirits, not confuse his intellect.

282) p. 110 He was her inferior in talent and all the elegancies of mind; and the very want of such equality [prevented] his perception of it.

283) p. 119 Where little minds belong to rich people in authority, they have a knack of swelling out till they are quite as unmanageable as great ones.

284) p. 135 Overcome all that part of her reserve which ought to be overcome, all that has its foundation in diffidence. What arises from discretion must be honored.

285) p. 153 Happily he was not further from approving matrimony than from foreseeing it. Though always objecting to every marriage that was arranged, he never suffered beforehand from the apprehension of any; it seemed as if he could not think so ill of any two persons' understanding as to suppose they meant to marry till it were proved against them.

286) p. 160 ...more music than love...more ear than eye...a more acute sensibility to sounds than to feelings.

287) p. 161 There is safety in reserve, but no attraction; one cannot love a reserved person....

288) p. 169 "This [arriving by carriage] is coming as you should do, like a gentleman. I am quite glad to see you." "How lucky that we should arrive then [thank you] at the same moment; for if we had met first in the drawing room, I doubt whether you would have discerned me to be more of a gentleman than usual."

289) p. 212 Warmth and tenderness of heart, with an affectionate, open manner, will beat all the clearness of head in the world for attraction.

290) p. 215 If not foolish, she was ignorant.

291) p. 222 ...self-important, presuming, familiar, ignorant, and ill-bred....

292) p. 240 John Knightly ... was in mute astonishment. That a man who might have spent his evening quietly at home after a day of business in London should set off again and walk half a mile to another man's house for the sake of being in mixed company till bedtime, of finishing his day in the efforts of civility and the noise of numbers, was a circumstance to strike him deeply. A man who had been in motion since eight o'clock in the morning and might now have been still-- who had been long talking and might have been silent-- who had been in more than one crowd and might have been alone! Such a man to quit the tranquility and independence of his own fireside, and on the evening of a cold, sleety April day rush out again into the world! Could he, by a touch of his finger, have instantly taken back his wife, there would have been a motive; but his coming would probably prolong rather than break up the party. John Knightly looked at him with amazement, then shrugged his shoulders and said, "I could not have believed it even of him."

293) p. 253 General benevolence but not general friendship, made a man what he ought to be.

294) p. 279 Her happiness, it was to be hoped, might eventually be as much increased by the arrival of the child as that of all her neighbors was by the approach of it.

295) p. 280 She denied none of it aloud and agreed to none of it in private.

296) p. 292 She had never seen [him] so silent and so stupid. He said nothing worth hearing-- looked without seeing-- admired without intelligence-- listened without knowing what she said. [...] was dull...and insufferable.

297) p. 319 ...encouraged what she might have repressed....

298) p. 325 Her tremblings were better concealed... but were not less.

299) p. 325 ...she listened with much inward suffering but with great outward patience.

300) p. 333 After all the punishment can bring, it is still not less misconduct. Pain is no expiation.

301) p. 333 ...her affection overpowered her judgment.

302) p. 334 It is fit that the fortune should all be on it is all on hers.

303) p. 335 The evening of this day was very long and melancholy...the weather added what it could of gloom. A cold, stormy rain set in, and nothing of July appeared but in the trees and shrubs, which the wind was despoiling, and the length of the day, which only made such cruel sights the longer visible.

304) p. 342 Her way was clear, though not quite smooth.

305) p. 343 ...momentary conquest of eagerness over judgment....

306) p. 347 ...the advantage of inheriting a disposition to hope for good, which no inheritance of houses or lands can ever equal the value of.

307) p. 376 ...as happy even as he is deserving...

308) p. 378 She wanted to be alone. Her mind was in a state of flutter and wonder, which made it impossible for her to be collected. She was in dancing, singing, exclaiming spirits; and till she had moved about and talked to herself and laughed and reflected, she could be fit for nothing rational.

309) p. 379 ...not always listening, but always agreeing....

310) p. 381 If not in our dispositions, ...there is a likeness in our destiny; the destiny which bids fair to connect us with two characters so superior to our own.