Pride and Prejudice Quotes

    I always have plenty of fun with Jane Austen quotes, and there are some great ones from P.&P. I almost had trouble keeping myself from writing down all the conversations in the book; as it is I have collected far to many!!
    I was going to put them in the order, but I’m afraid it became difficult to organize.
    The small words are just my personal notes…

“You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least.” ~Mr. Bennet

“I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.” ~Elizabeth

“A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.” -Mr. Darcy (to Miss Bingley)

“Those who do not complain are never pitied.” ~Mrs. Bennet (Who else?)

“Oh! Shocking! I never heard anything so abominable. How shall we punish him for such a speech?” ~Caroline Bingley

“Can he be a sensible man, sir?”
“No, my dear; I think not. I have great hopes of finding him quite the reverse.” -Mr. Bennet

“Laugh as much as you chuse, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion.” ~Jane

“Heaven forbid! That would be the greatest misfortune of all!--To find a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate!--Do not wish me such an evil.” ~Elizabeth (to Charlotte)

“Do you prefer reading to cards? That is rather singular.” -Mr. Hurst
“Miss Eliza Bennet despises cards. She is a great reader and has no pleasure in anything else.” ~Caroline Bingley
“I deserve neither such praise nor such censure. I am not a great reader, and I have pleasure in many things.” ~Elizabeth (It rather annoys me when people call her “Eliza”. Her name is Elizabeth. Maybe Lizzy, but not Eliza. Eliza seems like a completely different name.)

 “I have not the pleasure of understanding you. Of what are you talking?” -Mr. Bennet
“Of Mr. Collins and Lizzy. Lizzy declares she will not have Mr. Collins, and Mr. Collins begins to say he will not have Lizzy.” ~Mrs. Bennet
“And what am I to do on the occasion?--It seems a hopeless business.” -Mr. Bennet

“For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?” -Mr. Bennet

“Don’t keep coughing so, Kitty, for heaven’s sake! Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces!” ~Mrs. Bennet

“I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder at your knowing any.” ~Elizabeth

“Well, my dear, if your daughter should have a dangerous fit of illness, if she should die, it would be a comfort to know that it was all in pursuit of Mr. Bingley, and under your orders.” -Mr. Bennet (to Mrs. Bennet)

“An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents.--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

“Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.” ~Elizabeth

“Upon my word, you give your opinion very decidedly for so young a person.” ~Lady Catherine de Bourgh

“Come, Darcy, I must have you dance. I hate to see you standing around by yourself in this stupid manner. You had much better dance.” -Mr. Bingley

“In vain I have 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.” -Mr. Darcy (This has to be the most peculiar proposal I’ve ever heard!)

 “I might, perhaps, wish to be informed why, with so little endeavour at civility, I am thus rejected, but it is of small importance.” -Mr. Darcy
“I might as well enquire 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? Was not this some excuse for incivility, if I was uncivil?” ~Elizabeth  

 “Look here, I have bought this bonnet. I do not think it is very pretty; but I thought I might as well buy it as not. I shall pull it to pieces as soon as I get home, and see if I can make it up any better.” ~Lydia

“And poor Mr. Darcy! dear Lizzy, only consider what he must have suffered. Such a disappointment and with the knowledge of your ill opinion too! and having to relate such a thing of his sister! It is really too distressing. I am sure you must feel it so.” ~Jane
“Oh! no, my regret and compassion are all done away by seeing your so full of both. I know you will do him such ample justice, that I am growing every moment more unconcerned and indifferent. Your profusion makes me saving; and if you lament over him much longer, my heart will be as light as a feather.” ~Elizabeth

(Talking about Elizabeth) “I remember, when we first knew her in Hertfordshire, how amazed we all were to find that she was a reputed beauty; and I particularly recollect your saying one night, after they had been dining at Netherfield, ‘She a beauty!--I should as soon call her mother a wit.; But afterwards she seemed to improve on you, and I believe you thought her rather pretty at one time.” ~Caroline Bingley
“Yes, but that was only when I first knew her, for it is many months since I have considered her as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance.” -Mr. Darcy (Yes, you tell her!!)

 “Obstinate, headstrong girl! I am ashamed of you! … You are to understand, Miss Bennet, that I came here with the determined resolution of carrying my purpose; nor will I be dissuaded from it. I have not been used to submit to any person’s whims. I have not been in the habit of brooking disappointment.” ~Lady Catherine
“That will make your ladyship’s situation at present more pitiable; but it will have no effect on me.” ~Elizabeth

“I take no leave of you, Miss Bennet. I send no compliments to your mother. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased.” ~Lady Catherine

“Darcy had walked away to another part of the room. She followed him with her eyes, envied everyone to whom he spoke, had scarcely enough patience to help anybody to coffee; and then was enraged against herself for being so silly!”

“Such I was, from eight to eight and twenty; and such I might still have been but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! What do I not owe you! … You shewed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased,” -Mr. Darcy

“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.” ~Elizabeth (Incidentally, just five chapters before that, Elizabeth had told Jane “…I could never be so happy as you. Till I have your disposition, your goodness, I never can have your happiness.” Guess she changed her mind.)

 “Had it been your uncle’s doing, I must and would have paid him; but these violent young lovers carry everything their own way. I shall offer to pay him to-morrow; he will rant and storm about his love for you, and there will be an end to the matter.” -Mr. Bennet, (about Mr. Darcy) (I wonder if Mr. Bennet did offer to pay him?)

      “Elizabeth had the satisfaction of seeing her father taking pains to get acquainted with him; and Mr. Bennet soon assured her that he was rising every hour in his esteem.
    ‘I admire all my three sons-in-law highly,’ said he. ‘Wickham, perhaps, is my favourite; but I think I shall like your husband quite as well as Jane’s.’ ”

“Good gracious! only think! dear me! Mr. Darcy! Who would have thought it! And is it really true? Oh! my sweetest Lizzy! how rich and great you will be! What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages you will have! Jane’s is nothing to it - nothing at all. I am so pleased-so happy. Such a charming man!-so handsome! So tall!-Oh, my dear Lizzy! pray apologise for my having disliked him so much before. I hope he will overlook it. Dear, dear Lizzy. A house in town! Everything that is charming! Three daughters married! Ten thousand a year! What will become of me. I shall go distracted.” ~Mrs. Bennet (So, Mamma, are you happy now that I did not marry Mr. Collins?)

 From the BBC/A&E movie
"A life holds few distinctions, Mrs. Bennet, but I think we may safely boast that here sit two of the silliest girls in the country.” -Mr. Bennet


"Shelves in the closet! Happy thought indeed." ~Elizabeth

"Maria, this is your trunk, these are your gowns. You may arrange them in any way you wish. *whispers* Lady Catherine will never know!" ~Elizabeth

If all goes according to plan, I shall have my first post for Sense and Sensibility next week.