Jane Austen’s masterpiece Pride and Prejudice, a classic of English literature, has inspired people around the world.
Wonder how I felt about reading this novel?
Just like Austen once said, “If a book is well written, I always find it too short.”
If you felt the same, you’ll be happy to read these Pride and Prejudice quotes that highlight the most prominent themes of the book — love and marriage and class and gender equality.
Here you’ll read the best quotes from Elizabeth Bennet, Austen’s iconic and high-spirited heroine, her lover Mr. Darcy, her family members, as well as some other interesting characters.
So, dive into my extensive collection of Pride and Prejudice quotes and take your favorite of the lot!
10 Best Pride And Prejudice Quotes
1. “Is not general incivility the very essence of love?” — Jane Austen
2. “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.” — Jane Austen
See also: Top 220 Happy Quotes For Instagram To Spread Good Vibes
3. “There certainly was some great mismanagement in the education of those two young men. One has got all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it.” — Jane Austen
4. “The wisest and the best of men, nay, the wisest and best of their actions, maybe rendered ridiculous by a person whose first object in life is a joke.” — Jane Austen
5. “I must learn to be content with being happier than I deserve.” — Jane Austen
6. “Follies and nonsense, whims, and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.” — Jane Austen
7. “Every impulse of feeling should be guided by reason; and, in my opinion, exertion should always be in proportion to what is required.” — Jane Austen
8. “Pride is a very common failing….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.” — Jane Austen
9. “I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle… I was given good principles but left to follow them in pride and conceit.” — Jane Austen
10. “Till this moment I never knew myself.” — Jane Austen
Quotes From Pride And Prejudice Book
1. “I have not the pleasure of understanding you.” — Jane Austen
2. “I cannot forget the follies and vices of others so soon as I ought, nor their offenses against myself.” — Jane Austen
3. “You expect me to account for opinions which you choose to call mine, but which I have never acknowledged.” — Jane Austen
4. “The power of doing anything with quickness is always much prized by the possessor, and often without any attention to the imperfection of the performance.” — Jane Austen
5. “Angry people are not always wise.” — Jane Austen
6. “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.” — Jane Austen
7. “I certainly have not the talent which some people possess, of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of the conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.” — Jane Austen
8. “I am excessively diverted.” — Jane Austen
9. “I have faults enough, but they are not, I hope, of understanding. My temper I dare not vouch for. It is, I believe, too little yielding — certainly too little for the convenience of the world.” — Jane Austen
10. “I have been used to considering poetry as ‘the food of love.” — Jane Austen
11. “For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?” — Jane Austen
12. “You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.” — Jane Austen
13. “I often think,’ she said, ‘that there is nothing so bad as parting with one’s friends. One seems to be forlorn without them.” — Jane Austen
14. “Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride — where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation.” — Jane Austen
15. “Everything nourishes what is strong already.” — Jane Austen
16. “Have you any other objection than your belief of my indifference?” — Jane Austen
17. “’ Now be sincere; did you admire me for my impertinence?’
‘For the liveliness of your mind, I did.'” — Jane Austen
18. “It is particularly incumbent on those who never change their opinion, to be secure of judging properly at first.” — Jane Austen
See also: 70 Wrongly Judged Quotes To Make You Stop Being Critical
19. “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.” — Jane Austen
20. “It is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us.” — Jane Austen
Pride And Prejudice Love Quotes
1. “She attracted him more than he liked.” — Jane Austen
2. “We can all begin freely — a slight preference is natural enough, but there are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement.” — Jane Austen
3. “A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.” — Jane Austen
4. “You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever.” — Jane Austen
5. “I could easily forgive his pride if he had not mortified mine.” — Jane Austen
6. “If a woman is partial to a man, and does not endeavor to conceal it, he must find it out.” — Jane Austen
7. “What do I not owe you! You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.” — Jane Austen
8. “It sometimes is a disadvantage to be so very guarded. If a woman conceals her affection from the object of it, she may lose the opportunity of fixing him.” — Jane Austen
9. “Her heart did whisper that he had done it for her.” — Jane Austen
10. “Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces.” — Jane Austen
11. “She was convinced that she could have been happy with him when it was no longer likely they should meet.” — Jane Austen
12. “Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.” — Jane Austen
13. “She hardly knew how to suppose that she could be an object of admiration to so great a man.” — Jane Austen
14. “In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels.” — Jane Austen
15. “To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.” — Jane Austen
16. “Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind. But vanity, not love, has been my folly.” — Jane Austen
17. “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.” — Jane Austen
18. “Their eyes instantly met, and the cheeks of both were overspread with the deepest blush.” — Jane Austen
19. “We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant sort of man; but this would be nothing if you really liked him.” — Jane Austen
20. “A girl likes to be crossed a little in love now and then. It is something to think of.” — Jane Austen
Famous Pride And Prejudice Quotes
1. “He is a gentleman, and I am a gentleman’s daughter. So far we are equal.” — Jane Austen
2. “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.” — Jane Austen
3. “Pemberley Woods with some perturbation.” — Jane Austen
4. “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me, and I am in no humor at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men.” — Jane Austen
5. “A person who can write a long letter with ease, cannot write ill.” — Jane Austen
6. “But people themselves alter so much, that there is something new to be observed in them forever.” — Jane Austen
7. “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.” — Jane Austen
8. “Your defect is a propensity to hate everybody.” — Jane Austen
“And yours,” he replied with a smile, “is willfully to misunderstand them.” — Jane Austen
9. “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.” — Jane Austen
10. “She had a lively, playful disposition that delighted in anything ridiculous.” — Jane Austen
11. “Nothing is more deceitful…than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.” — Jane Austen
12. “If they had uncles enough to fill all Cheapside,’ cried Bingley, ‘it would not make them one jot less agreeable.” — Jane Austen
13. “Those who do not complain are never pitied.” — Jane Austen
14. “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.” — Jane Austen
15. “What are men to rocks and mountains?” — Jane Austen
See also: 150 Mountain Quotes To Make You Wanna Hike Right Now
16. “He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again.” — Jane Austen
17. “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.” — Jane Austen
18. “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.” — Jane Austen
19. “I never could be so happy as you. Till I have your disposition, your goodness, I never can have your happiness.” — Jane Austen
20. “If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient.” — Jane Austen
Pride And Prejudice Movie Quotes
1. “My good opinion once lost is lost forever.” — Mr. Darcy
2. “Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins and I will never see you again if you do.” — Mr. Bennet
3. “I cannot believe that anyone can deserve you… but it appears I am overruled. So, I heartily give my consent.” — Mr. Bennet
4. “You have bewitched me body and soul. And I love…I love…I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.” — Mr. Darcy.
5. “We are all fools in love.” — Charlotte Lucas
6. “No. No, I prefer to be unsociable and taciturn. Makes it all so much more enjoyable, don’t you think?” — Elizabeth Bennet
7. “Mr. Darcy: ‘So what do you recommend to encourage affection?’
Elizabeth Bennet: ‘Dancing. Even if one’s partner is barely tolerable.’” — Pride And Prejudice
8. “Only the deepest love will persuade me into matrimony, which is why I shall end up an old maid.” — Elizabeth Bennet
9. “A Mrs. Bennet, a Miss Bennet, a Miss Bennet, and a Miss Bennet, sir.” — Netherfield Butler
10. “I love you. Most Ardently.” – Mr. Darcy
Pride And Prejudice Marriage Quotes
1. “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.” — Jane Austen
2. “How little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue.” — Jane Austen
3. “It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage. A man always imagines a woman to be ready for anybody who asks her.” — Jane Austen
4. “You are mistaken, Mr. Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way than as it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner.” — Jane Austen
5. “Oh, Lizzy! Do anything rather than marry without affection.” — Jane Austen
6. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” — Jane Austen
7. “They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterward to have their share of vexation, and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life.” — Jane Austen
8. “The most incomprehensible thing in the world to a man, is a woman who rejects his offer of marriage!” — Jane Austen
9. “A woman is not to marry a man merely because she is asked, or because he is attached to her, and can write a tolerable letter.” — Jane Austen
10. “Marriage is indeed a maneuvering business.” — Jane Austen
Final Thoughts
That’s it for my collection of the 90 best Pride and Prejudice quotes!
I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Until next time!
