37 of the Best Pride and Prejudice Quotes

Jane Austen may not be a romanticist, but her novel, Pride and Prejudice, recreates a world of social complexity which runs along with the exploration of human feeling and emotion. Considered as one of Austen’s most well-loved the book, Pride and Prejudice presents a respectable painting of the Regency era in the context of manners, money, education, and marriage.

As one of the most popular novels in English Literature, Pride and Prejudice has given a huge impact and had inspired many derivations in modern literature, particularly in the romance genre. Countless adaptations, both in film and TV versions, and reprints are out, and the memorable characters and lines continue to inspire and dwell on the readers.

With its complex characters, social themes, child upbringing, and superior society, the novel takes you on a ride as you get to know each of the personas, as well as their faults, pride, and prejudice.

Take a close look at the complexity of the characters in their speeches to get a reminder of a true classic.

Here are 37 of the best quotes from Pride and Prejudice.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

Probably the most famous line in Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen did not hold back in channeling the belief of the people to what is considered universally acknowledged. To some extent, these ‘universally acknowledged’ truths could be some silly balderdash people opted to believe.

I have said no such thing. 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.

Learn the importance of knowing how to stand up for your own self without taking other’s opinions into consideration.

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.

At the time when people take pleasure in things like art, reading, and music, Austen highlights the superiority of someone who owns plenty of good books. To be assessed by the quantity of love and money given for art gives a subtle hint of understanding of the era.

You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled.

You owe the lessons you learned from the people who gave you the freedom and the chance to learn them. Some people correct your mistakes while others let you do the correction.

Do anything rather than marry without affection.

Marriage without affection is like a day without light. Austen reminds her reader to marry to invest love in marriage. Only then will you find great happiness.

A person who can write a long letter with ease cannot write ill.

Writing is considered a feast to a soul in love. To be eloquent in writing is a form of passion disguise as something mundane. Love letters became too general that people forgot to romanticize it.

Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.

When remembering about the past, pick only the brightest and the happiest. The sorrows and pain of what has happened have no business in the present and future.

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.

Constant worrying and wallowing won’t change what’s going to happen. Being too prepared won’t necessarily give salvation.

The distance is nothing when one has motive.

Distance won’t matter to the hearts full of longing. The same with time, beauty, age, and youth. All these are superficial the moment a heart learns how to love.

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.

To be able to distinguish, both are a life-long lesson. Be careful of both, for how you appear and how reality reflects might be a little different.

A girl likes to be crossed a little in love now and then. It is something to think of.

Jane Austen was able to capture the raw sentiment of most young women in the novel’s setting. The younger Miss Bennets think of nothing but capturing officers and admiring them. In a period where marriage is of high importance, to find a young woman crossed in love is luxury some couldn’t find.

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.

Elizabeth Bennet is a woman with thoughtful reflection. Though sometimes blocked by her tendencies to give prejudice, she is best at realizing her lessons and living faithfully to them.

There is nothing so bad as parting with one’s friends. One seems too forlorn without them.

Friendship can either be the daylight or the darkness. As two hearts attached as one, it is fairly difficult to cut the bond. When one goes away, the other hopes.

A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.

There’s no line more accurate. The mind of a woman is very difficult to understand, and her imagination runs at speed faster than anyone can keep up.

I could easily forgive his pride if he had not mortified mine.

Pride plays a very important role in the book. It shows that injured pride is dangerous, and the only way to comfort it is to give the same anger back.

For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn?

Austen did not forget to add humor to the story. Laughter feeds a hungry soul. It brings comfort even when times are rough. Austen is quick to remind people not to take everything seriously and start loosening up.

Do not consider me now as an elegant female, intending to plague you, but as a rational creature, speaking the truth from her heart.

The setting of the story suggests that women are only for design. Jane Austen wishes to reevaluate the meaning of becoming a woman: that she is more than just her pretty countenance, or her being accomplished.

To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.

Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingly first met on a ball. He instantly fell in love with her. They danced two dances, and he was captivated. Truly, a dance is made of love.

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 knows how to balance her characters very well. Elizabeth Bennet, whose all-encompassing character is as memorable as Mr. Darcy’s proud and disagreeable countenance. With pride, prejudice, and vanity between their way, Austen emphasizes the obstacles these vile emotions present.

You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.

Being pretentious would only please a crooked and weak mind. A worthy woman will look for genuine and meaningful things rather than the superficial.

Nothing is more deceitful…than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.

People react differently to things. Not everybody has the same heart and mind.

She was convinced that she could have been happy with him when it was no longer likely they should meet.

The true value of things is often recognized after they’re gone.

But people themselves alter so much, that there is something new to be observed in them for ever.

Things and people change. The fascinating thing is there will always be a story behind it.

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.

Take your pick. Choose either the stubbornness that makes you achieve things and never gives up or the stubbornness that harms no one but you.

What are young men to rocks and mountains?

The natural world will always win over industrialism. This is what Jane Austen wants her reader to fully comprehend.

There is, I believe, in every disposition, a tendency to some particular evil—a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome.

Even the best education can’t fix a narrow mind, a proud heart, and a restless soul. There’s always something about human character that great knowledge can’t determine.

Angry people are not always wise.

Anger is all-consuming and deadly. The more it controls a person, the stronger it gets every time.

Those who do not complain are never pitied.

Those who complain are those who failed to do any actions. Don’t waste your time complaining, solve the problem, and think of solutions.

We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant sort of man; but this would be nothing if you really liked him.

Love’s eyes won’t see all the ugly things. Love’s hand won’t feel the rough skin. Love knows everything and won’t mind.

Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies, do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.

Laugh at your mistakes like how you’d laugh a toddler falling after learning how to walk. Forgive yourself and move on.

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.

When in love, you don’t need to know where you’re going. One doesn’t need to know what lies ahead. When in love, words aren’t significantly needed. Hearts can beat, and eyes can understand on their own.

Till this moment, I never knew myself.

We often find new versions of ourselves in someone else.

Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion.

You deserve to voice out your opinions, but not everyone will be willing to hear it, and some may even contradict it.

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.

You won’t know when or where love will hit you. Sometimes, you will suddenly wake up, and you felt this tingling sensation in your chest. Love comes with no warning.

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.

For Mr. Darcy, a proud man, to tell without hesitation, his love for Elizabeth. But then again, there are just some things he thought he had them covered, so Elizabeth’s reaction was a real blow on his pride. Still, it is one of the most romantic confessions in English Literature.

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 for ever.

Mr. Darcy has learned his lesson, and on the second time, he knew what to say and what to do.

My good opinion, once lost, is lost forever.

First impressions last, but lost opinions are the scariest.

‘Pride and Prejudice’ is full of sensations. It has well-loved characters, engaging plots, relatable themes, and a wondrous style of writing. It is more than just a love story. It speaks beyond the themes it preserves.

Jane Austen did not hold back when writing her second novel. The readers will get the chance to uncover a different era full of discussions on marriages, superiority, and education: a worthy journey with the snippets of enjoyable and entertaining lines to ponder.

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