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)

31. It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do
32. There is a natural aristocracy among men, the grounds of which are virtue and talents
33. Nobody minds having what is too good for them
34. How quick come the reasons for approving what we like
35. There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort
36. It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before
37. The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid
38. A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of
39. One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty
40. What are men to rocks and mountains?
41. There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart
42. Selfishness must always be forgiven, you know, because there is no hope of a cure
43. Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable
44. A woman is not to be told she is handsome by her own servant
45. I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other
46. Pictures of perfection make me sick and wicked
47. The worth of every book is proportioned to what the reader brings to it
48. Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation
49. Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery
50. The enthusiasm of a woman’s love is even beyond the biographer’s
51. Every savage can dance
52. There is no doing without money
53. To wish was to hope, and to hope was to expect
54. Respect for right conduct is felt by every body
55. Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations
56. An artist cannot do anything slovenly
57. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife
58. General benevolence, but not general friendship, made a man what he ought to be
59. Let no one presume to give the tone to Jane Austen quotes

On Women and Independence (30 Quotes)

60. Give a girl an education and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one but she has the means of settling well
61. A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can
62. Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor, which is one very strong argument in favor of matrimony
63. The sooner every party breaks up, the better
64. There is no enjoyment like reading
65. What is right to be done cannot be done too soon
66. To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment
67. A woman is not to be told she is handsome by her own servant
68. A person who can write a long letter with ease, cannot write ill
69. There are as many forms of love as there are moments in time
70. It is only a novel… only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed
71. Selfishness must always be forgiven
72. Women themselves always exaggerate the change in their own character
73. Women fancy admiration means more than it does
74. A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid
75. I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness
76. The distance is nothing when one has a motive
77. Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day
78. For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn
79. An engaged woman is always more agreeable
80. To love is to burn, to be on fire
81. How little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue
82. My idea of good company is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation
83. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope
84. Every moment has its pleasures and its hope
85. There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort
86. My idea of good company is the company of clever, well-informed people
87. How quick come the reasons for approving what we like
88. Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance
89. Selfishness must always be forgiven