Wit, Wisdom, and Romance: 89 Timeless Jane Austen Quotes

Jane Austen’s words have captivated readers for generations, offering sharp wit, insightful observations, and timeless reflections on life, love, and society.

Whether you’re a devoted fan of her novels or simply appreciate elegant storytelling, these Jane Austen quotes will remind you why her legacy endures.

Dive into the world of Austen’s wisdom and let her timeless words inspire you!

89 Jane Austen Quotes

On Love and Relationships (30 Quotes)

  1. There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart
  2. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you
  3. It is not time or opportunity that determines intimacy; it is disposition alone
  4. A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony
  5. If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more
  6. A person who can write a long letter with ease cannot write ill
  7. To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love
  8. We are all fools in love
  9. A man who has nothing to do with his own time has no conscience in his intrusion on that of others
  10. Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance
  11. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously
  12. Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love
  13. There is safety in reserve, but no attraction; one cannot love a reserved person
  14. A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can
  15. Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds
  16. There is no enjoyment like reading
  17. To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment
  18. An engaged woman is always more agreeable than a disengaged
  19. You pierce my soul; I am half agony, half hope
  20. The distance is nothing when one has a motive
  21. There is something so amiable in the prejudices of a young mind
  22. The power of doing anything with quickness is always much prized by the possessor
  23. There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others
  24. For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?
  25. I have not the pleasure of understanding you
  26. Nothing ever fatigues me, but doing what I do not like
  27. The more I see of the world, the more I am dissatisfied with it
  28. There is no remedy for love but to love more
  29. One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other
  30. To love is to burn, to be on fire

On Life and Society (29 Quotes)

  1. It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do
  2. There is a natural aristocracy among men, the grounds of which are virtue and talents
  3. Nobody minds having what is too good for them
  4. How quick come the reasons for approving what we like
  5. There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort
  6. It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before
  7. The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid
  8. A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of
  9. One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty
  10. What are men to rocks and mountains?
  11. There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart
  12. Selfishness must always be forgiven, you know, because there is no hope of a cure
  13. Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable
  14. A woman is not to be told she is handsome by her own servant
  15. I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other
  16. Pictures of perfection make me sick and wicked
  17. The worth of every book is proportioned to what the reader brings to it
  18. Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation
  19. Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery
  20. The enthusiasm of a woman’s love is even beyond the biographer’s
  21. Every savage can dance
  22. There is no doing without money
  23. To wish was to hope, and to hope was to expect
  24. Respect for right conduct is felt by every body
  25. Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations
  26. An artist cannot do anything slovenly
  27. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife
  28. General benevolence, but not general friendship, made a man what he ought to be
  29. Let no one presume to give the tone to Jane Austen quotes

On Women and Independence (30 Quotes)

  1. Give a girl an education and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one but she has the means of settling well
  2. A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can
  3. Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor, which is one very strong argument in favor of matrimony
  4. The sooner every party breaks up, the better
  5. There is no enjoyment like reading
  6. What is right to be done cannot be done too soon
  7. To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment
  8. A woman is not to be told she is handsome by her own servant
  9. A person who can write a long letter with ease, cannot write ill
  10. There are as many forms of love as there are moments in time
  11. It is only a novel… only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed
  12. Selfishness must always be forgiven
  13. Women themselves always exaggerate the change in their own character
  14. Women fancy admiration means more than it does
  15. A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid
  16. I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness
  17. The distance is nothing when one has a motive
  18. Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day
  19. For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn
  20. An engaged woman is always more agreeable
  21. To love is to burn, to be on fire
  22. How little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue
  23. My idea of good company is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation
  24. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope
  25. Every moment has its pleasures and its hope
  26. There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort
  27. My idea of good company is the company of clever, well-informed people
  28. How quick come the reasons for approving what we like
  29. Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance
  30. Selfishness must always be forgiven
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