Pride and Prejudice is one of the most popular classical novels of all time. It’s a story of courage, inner strength, and pursuing true love. No wonder that many Pride and Prejudice quotes are nothing short of timeless.
It’s a story set in rural England and centers on the Bennet family, and especially its daughters.
The family faces one challenge. Should Mr. Bennet die, William Collins would inherit the family estate. So Mrs. Bennet sets out to get her daughter married. Eventually, the Bennet family receives an invitation to a ball which is attended by many people in the neighborhood.
It’s there that Elizabeth, or Lizzie Bennet, first meets the proud Mr. Darcy who regards no one other than himself or those close to him.
Lizzie Bennet proves to be one of literature’s most beloved heroin and one of its most progressive for its time.
Pride and Prejudice is a story of love versus class reputation. It’s a charming story, one brought to live by Jane Austen’s flowery writing and fantastic wordplay. It’s a timeless book, one that remains a favorite amongst the British people.
In this article, I’ve compiled a list of my favorite quotes from Jane Austen’s masterpiece. If you’re looking for more quotes, check out my article on Jane Eyre quotes, Ernest Hemingway quotes or deep Twitter quotes.
Table of Contents
- Best Pride and Prejudice Quotes
- Pride and Prejudice Quotes on Happiness
- Pride and Prejudice Quotes on Integrity
- Pride and Prejudice Quotes on Life
- Pride and Prejudice Quotes on Love
- Pride and Prejudice Quotes on Marriage
- Pride and Prejudice Quotes on Vanity and Pride
Best Pride and Prejudice Quotes
“Angry people are not always wise.”
“A girl likes to be crossed a little in love now and then.It is something to think of.”
“A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”
“Have you any other objection than your belief of my indifference?”
“I certainly have not the talent which some people possess, of conversing easily with those I have never seen before.”
“I have not the pleasure of understanding you.”
“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.”
“What are men to rocks and mountains?”
“Your defect is a propensity to hate everybody.” “And yours,” he replied with a smile, “is willfully to misunderstand them.”
“She hardly knew how to suppose that she could be an object of admiration to so great a man.”
“A person who can write a long letter with ease, cannot write ill.”
Pride and Prejudice Quotes on Happiness
“I must learn to be content with being happier than I deserve.”
“Affectation of candour is common enough—one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design—to take the good of everybody’s character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad—belongs to you alone.”
“Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.”
“I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.”
“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.”
“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”
“I never could be so happy as you. Till I have your disposition, your goodness, I never can have your happiness.”
“She had a lively, playful disposition that delighted in anything ridiculous.”
Pride and Prejudice Quotes on Integrity
“It is particularly incumbent on those who never change their opinion, to be secure of judging properly at first.”
“Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.”
“Every impulse of feeling should be guided by reason; and, in my opinion, exertion should always be in proportion to what is required.”
“Do you think that any consideration would tempt me to accept the man who has been the means of ruining, perhaps for ever, the happiness of a most beloved sister?”
“Elizabeth had never been more at a loss to make her feelings appear what they were not. It was necessary to laugh, when she would rather have cried.”
“The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.”
“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.”
“You shall not, for the sake of one individual, change the meaning of principle and integrity, nor endeavour to persuade yourself or me, that selfishness is prudence, and insensibility of danger security for happiness.”
“You were disgusted with the women who were always speaking and looking, and thinking for your approbation alone. I roused, and interested you, because I was so unlike them.”
Pride and Prejudice Quotes on Life
“Everything nourishes what is strong already”
“A girl likes to be crossed a little in love now and then. It is something to think of”
“But people themselves alter so much, that there is something new to be observed in them for ever.”
“Do not give way to useless alarm…though it is right to be prepared for the worst, there is no occasion to look on it as certain.”
“Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies, do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.”
“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”
“My good opinion once lost, is lost forever.”
“The distance is nothing when one has motive.”
“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 every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.”
“Those who do not complain are never pitied.”
“Till this moment I never knew myself.”
“You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.”
Pride and Prejudice Quotes on Love
“To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love”
“Could there be finer symptoms? Is not general incivility the very essence of love?”
“I am determined that only the deepest love will induce me into matrimony. So, I shall end an old maid, and teach your ten children to embroider cushions and play their instruments very ill.”
“I might as well enquire,” replied she, “why with so evident a design of offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character?”
“In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels.”
“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.”
“She was convinced that she could have been happy with him, when it was no longer likely they should meet.”
“There are very few who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement.”
Pride and Prejudice Quotes on Marriage
“Do not be in a hurry, the right man will come at last.”
“How little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue.”
“Do anything rather than marry without affection.”
“Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.”
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
“Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed a little in love now and then. It is something to think of, and it gives her a sort of distinction among her companions.”
Pride and Prejudice Quotes on Vanity and Pride
“Nothing is more deceitful… than the appearance of humility.”
“I could easily forgive his pride if he had not mortified mine.”
“Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind. But vanity, not love, has been my folly.”
“He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again.”
“It is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us.”
“Pride is a very common failing… I am convinced that it is very common indeed; 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.”
“There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil—a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome.”
“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”
“Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride—where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation.”