The 75 Best Pride And Prejudice Quotes By Jane Austen

Deepthi Reddy
Dec 12, 2023 By Deepthi Reddy
Originally Published on Feb 27, 2021
Edited by Luca Demetriou
Leisure Activity with Tea and Book, Pride and Prejudice from Jane Austen

'Pride And Prejudice' is a novel set in a rural area in England wherein Mr. and Mrs. Bennet stay with their five daughters.

Mrs. Bennet is eager to get all her daughters married soon as the family estate would be inherited by William Collins if Mr. Bennet dies. The story continues as Mr. Bennet's family receives an invitation to a ball which was attended by many people in the neighborhood.

Austen's tale takes place in a society where both expectations and reputation are paramount. The book revolves around themes like love, class, integrity, and gender.

The story teaches us some of the important moral lessons of Life. It encourages us to put aside our pride and prejudice and accept people as who they are.

Also, gender equality is one of the main themes of this story. Hence, it educates young boys and girls to be more independent, open-minded and to not discriminate anyone based on their gender.

The Best Pride And Prejudice Book Quotes

The book 'Pride And Prejudice' has many great quotes and we have compiled a few for you.

1. "A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment." -Jane Austen.

2. "I have not the pleasure of understanding you."-Jane Austen.

3. "Till this moment I never knew myself."-Jane Austen.

4. "Angry people are not always wise." -Jane Austen.

5. "I could easily forgive his pride if he had not mortified mine."-Jane Austen.

6. "To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love." -Jane Austen.

7. "For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?"-Jane Austen.

8. "I certainly have not the talent which some people possess, of conversing easily with those I have never seen before."- Jane Austen.

9. "What are men to rocks and mountains?"- Jane Austen.

10. "Everything nourishes what is strong already." - Jane Austen.

11. "Have you any other objection than your belief of my indifference?"- Jane Austen.

12. "Every impulse of feeling should be guided by reason; and, in my opinion, exertion should always be in proportion to what is required." - Jane Austen.

13. "You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever." -Jane Austen.

14. "I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh."-Jane Austen.

15. "Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces." -Jane Austen.

16. "I think I have heard you say, that their uncle is an attorney in Meryton." -Jane Austen.

17. "I have faults enough, but they are not, I hope, of understanding. My temper I dare not vouch for. It is, I believe, too little yielding— certainly too little for the convenience of the world."-Jane Austen

18. "I cannot forget the follies and vices of others so soon as I ought, nor their offenses against myself. " -Jane Austen

19. '''There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil, a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome.'
'And your defect is a propensity to hate everybody.'
'And yours,' he replied with a smile, 'is wilfully to misunderstand them.'"

-Jane Austen

20. "I certainly have not the talent which some people possess, of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of the conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done." -Jane Austen

21. "But there are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement." -Jane Austen

22. "Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind. But vanity, not love, has been my folly." - Jane Austen

Pride And Prejudice Movie Quotes

If you love romance novels then do not miss the 'Pride And Prejudice' (2005) movie starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. There are many unforgettable quotes and one-liners from this movie and here we bring some more for you.

23. "I cannot believe that anyone can deserve you...but it appears I am overruled. So, I heartily give my consent."-Mr. Bennet.

24. "Mr. Darcy: So what do you recommend to encourage affection?

Elizabeth Bennet: Dancing. Even if one's partner is barely tolerable."

- Pride And Prejudice.

25. "You have bewitched me body and soul. And I love...I love...I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on." -Mr. Darcy.

26. "Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins and I will never see you again if you do."-Mr. Bennet.

27. "Only the deepest love will persuade me into matrimony, which is why I shall end up an old maid." -Elizabeth Bennet.

28. "We are all fools in love." -Charlotte Lucas

29. "My good opinion once lost is lost forever." -Mr. Darcy

30. "I love you. Most Ardently."-Mr. Darcy

Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice Quotes

'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife is the first sentence of 'Pride And Prejudice'. Jane Austen has wonderfully portrayed several messages through character development and conflicts within the various characters in the novel.

31. "I must learn to be content with being happier than I deserve."

32. "Her heart did whisper that he had done it for her."

33. "You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure."

34. "We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant sort of man; but this would be nothing if you really liked him."

35. "What do I not owe you! You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased."

36. "I am excessively diverted."

37. "Follies and nonsense, whims, and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can."

38. "She was convinced that she could have been happy with him when it was no longer likely they should meet."

39. "'Now be sincere; did you admire me for my impertinence?'
'For the liveliness of your mind, I did.'"

40. "Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart."

41. "I have been used to considering poetry as 'the food of love."

42. "You expect me to account for opinions which you choose to call mine, but which I have never acknowledged."

43. "It is particularly incumbent on those who never change their opinion, to be secure of judging properly at first."

44. "She attracted him more than he liked."

45. "It sometimes is a disadvantage to be so very guarded. If a woman conceals her affection from the object of it, she may lose the opportunity of fixing him."

46. "The power of doing anything with quickness is always much prized by the possessor, and often without any attention to the imperfection of the performance."

47. "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."

48. "The wisest and the best of men, nay, the wisest and best of their actions, maybe rendered ridiculous by a person whose first object in life is a joke."

49. "Pride is a very common failing....that human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary."

50. "I often think,' she said, 'that there is nothing so bad as parting with one's friends. One seems to be forlorn without them."

51. "We can all begin freely—a slight preference is natural enough, but there are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement."

Pride And Prejudice Marriage Quotes

'Pride And Prejudice' is a novel where people are defined by marriage and class (financial holdings.) At the beginning of the novel, both Elizabeth and Darcy strongly believe that they are above pride and vanity but soon they realize that they have responsibilities to others. Find some interesting quotes from 'Pride And Prejudice'.

52. "Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance."- Jane Austen.

53. "How little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue." - Jane Austen.

54. "It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage. A man always imagines a woman to be ready for anybody who asks her." -Jane Austen.

55. "Oh, Lizzy! do anything rather than marry without affection."- Jane Austen.

56. "You are mistaken, Mr. Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any 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." - Elizabeth Bennet.

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

58. "They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterward 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."- Jane Austen

59. "The most incomprehensible thing in the world to a man, is a woman who rejects his offer of marriage!" -Jane Austen

60. "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." - Jane Austen

61. "Marriage is indeed a maneuvering business." -Jane Austen

Famous Pride And Prejudice Quotes

62. "There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me."-Jane Austen.

63. "Is not general incivility the very essence of love?" -  Jane Austen.

64. "Your defect is a propensity to hate everybody." "And yours," he replied with a smile, "is willfully to misunderstand them." -Jane Austen.

65. "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me, and I am in no humor at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men." -Jane Austen.

66. "In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." -Jane Austen.

67. "They walked on, without knowing in what direction. There was too much to be thought, and felt, and said, for attention to any other objects." -Jane Austen.

68. "Nothing is more deceitful…than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast." -Jane Austen.

69. "I am happier than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh. Mr. Darcy sends you all the love in the world, that he can spare from me." -  Jane Austen.

70. "I have been a selfish being all my life, in practise, though not in principle... I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit." - Jane Austen.

71. "Pemberley Woods with some perturbation.' -Jane Austen.

72. "A girl likes to be crossed a little in love now and then. It is something to think of." -Jane Austen.

73. "He is a gentleman, and I am a gentleman's daughter. So far we are equal." -Jane Austen.

74. "But people themselves alter so much, that there is something new to be observed in them forever." -Jane Austen.

75. "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book!" -Jane Austen.

76. "If they had uncles enough to fill all Cheapside,' cried Bingley, 'it would not make them one jot less agreeable." -Jane Austen.

77. "She had a lively, playful disposition that delighted in anything ridiculous." -Jane Austen.

78. "If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient." - Jane Austen.

79. "A person who can write a long letter with ease, cannot write ill." -Jane Austen.

Main image credit: Akhmad Dody Firmansyah / Shutterstock.com

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Written by Deepthi Reddy

Master of Business Administration

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Deepthi ReddyMaster of Business Administration

With an MBA under her belt, Deepthi has discovered her true calling in content writing. Her writing repertoire is diverse, covering travel, movies, pet care, parenting, animals and birds, and more. Her joy of learning and creating has helped her craft well-written and engaging articles. When she isn't writing, Deepthi enjoys exploring new cultures, trying different foods, and spending quality time with her two children aged 7 and 12.

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