Jane Austen Quotes
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I could not sit seriously down to write a serious Romance under any other motive than to save my life, & if it were indispensable for me to keep it up & never relax into laughing at myself or other people, I am sure I should be hung before I had finished the first chapter. No - I must keep my own style & go on in my own way; and though I may never succeed again in that, I am convinced that I should totally fail in any other.
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There is nothing like employment, active indispensable employment, for relieving sorrow. Employment, even melancholy, may dispel melancholy.
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I should infinitely prefer a book.
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When I look out on such a night as this, I feel as if there could be neither wickedness nor sorrow in the world; and there certainly would be less of both if the sublimity of Nature were more attended to, and people were carried more out of themselves by contemplating such a scene.
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She had nothing to do but to forgive herself and be happier than ever.
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She tried to be calm, and leave things to take their course; and tried to dwell much on this argument of rational dependence – “Surely, if there be constant attachment on each side, our hearts must understand each other ere long. We are not boy and girl, to be captiously irritable, misled by every moment’s inadvertence, and wantonly playing with our own happiness.” And yet, a few minutes afterwards, she felt as if their being in company with each other, under their present circumstances, could only be exposing them to inadvertencies and misconstructions of the most mischievous kind.
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Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces.
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An artist cannot do anything slovenly.
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Mary wished to say something very sensible, but knew not how.
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If you will thank me '' he replied let it be for yourself alone. That the wish of giving happiness to you might add force to the other inducements which led me on I shall not attempt to deny. But your family owe me nothing. Much as I respect them I believe I thought only of you.
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In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels.
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It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before.
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Respect for right conduct is felt by every body.
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If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.
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You are mistaken, Mr. Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way, than as it spared the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner.
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There are such beings in the world -- perhaps one in a thousand -- as the creature you and I should think perfection; where grace and spirit are united to worth, where the manners are equal to the heart and understanding; but such a person may not come in your way, or, if he does, he may not be the eldest son of a man of fortune, the near relation of your particular friend, and belonging to your own county.
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Whatever bears affinity to cunning is despicable.
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Nobody can tell what I suffer! But it is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied.
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The worst crimes; are the crimes of the heart...
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It is a shocking trick for a young person to be always lolling upon a sofa.
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And pictures of perfection, as you know, make me sick and wicked.
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There was no being displeased with such an encourager, for his admiration made him discern a likeness before it was possible.
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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.
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Now be sincere; did you admire me for my impertinence?" "For the liveliness of your mind, I did.