There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.
Jane Austen
There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.
The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.
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.
Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.
I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.
Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.
Nobody minds having what is too good for them.
My idea of good company is the company of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.
A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.
Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure.
A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.
The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love.
Those who do not complain are never pitied.
Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief.
One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.
For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn?
In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels.
Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.
There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.
Woman is fine for her own satisfaction alone. No man will admire her the more, no woman will like her the better for it. Neatness and fashion are enough for the former, and a something of shabbiness or impropriety will be most endearing to the latter.
If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.
There is safety in reserve, but no attraction. One cannot love a reserved person.
Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor. Which is one very strong argument in favor of matrimony.
A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can.
Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies.
Give a girl an education and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one but she has the means of settling well, without further expense to anybody.
Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken.
To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.
The power of doing anything with quickness is always prized much by the possessor, and often without any attention to the imperfection of the performance.
To flatter and follow others, without being flattered and followed in turn, is but a state of half enjoyment.
Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.
Oh! do not attack me with your watch. A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch.
One man's style must not be the rule of another's.
Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.
An engaged woman is always more agreeable than a disengaged. She is satisfied with herself. Her cares are over, and she feels that she may exert all her powers of pleasing without suspicion. All is safe with a lady engaged; no harm can be done.
Is not general incivility the very essence of love?
Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.
There are certainly not so many men of large fortune in the world, as there are pretty women to deserve them.
From politics, it was an easy step to silence.
A mind lively and at ease, can do with seeing nothing, and can see nothing that does not answer.
One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.
A person who can write a long letter with ease, cannot write ill.
We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.
Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable.
I am afraid that the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.
They are much to be pitied who have not been given a taste for nature early in life.
I would have everybody marry if they can do it properly: I do not like to have people throw themselves away; but everybody should marry as soon as they can do it to advantage.
