Quotes from Emma

“There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.”

“One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.”

“Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations, that a young person, who either marries or dies, is sure of being kindly spoken of.”

“What is right to be done cannot be done too soon.” –Mr. Weston

“…I hate Italian singing.---There is no understanding a word of it.” –Harriet Smith

“There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.” –Emma

“Ah! There is nothing like staying at home, for real comfort.” –Mrs. Elton

“Mr. Knightley seemed to be trying not to smile, and succeeded without difficulty, upon Mrs. Elton’s beginning to talk to him.”

“Emma must submit to stand second to Mrs. Elton, though she had always considered the ball as peculiarly for her. It was almost enough to make her think of marrying.”

“She was more disturbed by Mr Knightley’s not dancing, than by any thing else.—There he was, among the standers-by, where he ought not to be; he ought to be dancing,--not classing himself with the husbands, and fathers, and whist-players…--so young as he looked! He could not have appeared to greater advantage perhaps any where, than where he had placed himself. His tall, firm, upright figure, among the bulky forms and stooping shoulders of the elderly men, was such as Emma felt must draw every body’s eyes.”

   “Whom are you going to dance with?” asked Mr. Knightley.

   She [Emma] hesitated for a moment, and then replied “With you, if you will ask me.”

   “Will you?” said he, offering his hand.

   “Indeed I will. You have shown that you can dance, and you know we are not really so much brother and sister as to make it at all improper.”

   “Brother and sister! no, indeed.”

   "No,"--he [Mr. Knightley] calmly replied,--"there is but one married woman in the world whom I can ever allow to invite what guests she pleases to Donwell, and that one is---"
   "---Mrs. Weston, I suppose," interrupted Mrs. Elton, rather mortified.
   "No--Mrs. Knightley;--and, till she is in being, I will manage such matters myself."

    “…He had ridden home through the rain; and he had walked up directly after dinner, to see how this sweetest and best of all creatures, faultless in spite of all her faults, bore the discovery.
   “He had found her agitated and low. –Frank Churchill was a villain. –He had heard her declare that she had never loved him. Frank Churchill’s character was not desperate. –She was his own Emma, by hand and word, when they returned into the house; and if he could have thought of Frank Churchill then, he might have deemed him a very good sort of fellow.”

“I always deserve the best treatment, because I never put up with any other.” –Emma

Quotes from the 2009 mini-series

"A mile's walk and a daily scolding of Emma is just what Dr. Perry prescribes." -Emma (about Mr. Knightley)

Emma: We have heard that you are very musical, Mrs Elton.

Mrs Elton: Oh, I dote on it! Dote! As I said to Mr E. – don’t give me two carriages, don’t give me enormous houses, but I could not live without music. No. Life would be a blank to me without music.

“ ‘Knightley’, indeed. Never seen him in her life, and she calls him ‘Knightley’! Insufferable woman! Horrible, upstart, vulgar being with her ‘Mr E.’ and her ‘caro sposo’ and her carriages and air of pert pretentions and underbred finery. Actually to discover that Mr Knightley is a gentleman, and that the woman who brought me up should be ladylike! I’ve never met her equal! ‘Knightley’, indeed! I’ve known him all my life, and even I don’t call him that!” –Emma

Isabella: You know, I believe my father would worry. I believe George is not well – he is listless and snappish.

Mr. Knightley: What?

Isabella: You are behaving strangely – not yourself. You did not want to go to dinner with the Cavendishes, you did not wish to take the boys to find frogs in the park.

John Knightley: Some might say hesitation was a perfectly normal response to both those invitations.


"That man is so full of himself, I'm surprised he can stay on that horse." - Mr. Knightley (about Mr. Elton)

~I know there are many more great quotes from this mini-series; if you think of any (particularly ones that aren’t in the book), feel free to suggest them.~

And so concludes my posts on Emma. I hope you enjoyed them!