Skip to Content

Quotes by Jane Austen

'Oh it is only a novel... In short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language.'

'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.'

Anne Elliot in Persuasion

'I think I can boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an authoress.'

'Oh it is only a novel... In short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language.'

'Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can.'

Search quotes