Find Information About Jane Austen and the Regency Period
Find Information About Jane Austen and the Regency Period
Are you looking for quotes from Jane Austen's Emma? Search for a quote under the following topics:
"Doing just what she liked; highly esteeming Miss Taylor's judgments, but directed chiefly by her own. The real evils, indeed, of Emma's situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself...." Chapter 1
"She did not always feel so absolutely satisfied with herself, so entirely convinced that her opinions were right and her adversary's wrong, as Mr. Knightley." Chapter 8
"Amusing herself in the consideration of the blunders which often arise from a partial knowledge of circumstances, of the mistakes which people of high pretensions to judgment are for ever falling into...." Chapter 13
"It darted through her with the speed of an arrow that Mr. Knightley must marry no one but herself!" Chapter 47
Dear Harriet, I give myself joy of this. It would have grieved me to lose your acquaintance, which must have been the consequence of your marrying Mr. Martin...I could not have visited Mrs. Robert Martin, of Abbey-Mill Farm. Emma’s concern with society
"'I lay it down as a general rule, Harriet, that if a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him. If she can hesitate as to "Yes," she ought to say "No" directly.'" Chapter 7
'That is the case with us all, papa. One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.'" Chapter 9
"'I have no faith in Mrs. Elton's acknowledging herself the inferior in thought, word, or deed; or in her being under any restraint beyond her own scanty rule of good breeding. I cannot imagine that she will not be continually insulting her visitor with praise, encouragement, and offers of service; that she will not be continually detailing her magnificent intentions from the procuring her a permanent situation to the including her in those delightful exploring parties which are to take place in the barouche-landau.' Chapter 33
Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.
"Never mind, Harriet, I shall not be a poor old maid; and it is poverty only which makes celibacy contemptible to a generous public! A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid! the proper sport of boys and girls, but a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as any body else." Chapter 10.
"Where little minds belong to rich people in authority, I think they have a knack of swelling out, till they are quite as unmanageable as great ones." Chapter 18.
Quotes about Mr Knightley’s Character
"Mr. Knightley, in fact, was one of the few people who could see faults in Emma Woodhouse, and the only one who ever told her of them...." Chapter 1
"There is one thing, Emma, which a man can always do, if he chuses, and that is, his duty..." Chapter 18
"It was badly done, indeed! You, whom she had known from an infant, whom she had seen grow up from a period when her notice was an honour, to have you now, in thoughtless spirits, and the pride of the moment, laugh at her, humble her--and before her niece, too--and before others, many of whom (certainly some,) would be entirely guided by your treatment of her.--This is not pleasant to you, Emma--and it is very far from pleasant to me; but I must, I will,--I will tell you truths while I can." V3 Chapter 7.
"I cannot make speeches, Emma . . . If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more." volume 3, chapter 13
"A man," said he, "must have a very good opinion of himself when he asks people to leave their own fireside, and encounter such a day as this, for the sake of coming to see him. He must think himself a most agreeable fellow; I could not do such a thing. It is the greatest absurdity—Actually snowing at this moment!—The folly of not allowing people to be comfortable at home—and the folly of people's not staying comfortably at home when they can! If we were obliged to go out such an evening as this, by any call of duty or business, what a hardship we should deem it;—and here are we, probably with rather thinner clothing than usual, setting forward voluntarily, without excuse, in defiance of the voice of nature, which tells man, in every thing given to his view or his feelings, to stay at home himself, and keep all under shelter that he can;—here are we setting forward to spend five dull hours in another man's house, with nothing to say or to hear that was not said and heard yesterday, and may not be said and heard again to-morrow. Going in dismal weather, to return probably in worse;—four horses and four servants taken out for nothing but to convey five idle, shivering creatures into colder rooms and worse company than they might have had at home." Chapter 13.
"Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief." Chapter 8
The wedding-cake, which had been a great distress to him, was all ate up. His own stomach could bear nothing rich, and he could never believe other people to be different from himself. What was unwholesome to him he regarded as unfit for anybody; and he had, therefore, earnestly tried to dissuade them from having any wedding-cake, at all, and when that proved vain, as earnestly tried to prevent anybody's eating it. (Chapter 1)
"It is such a happiness when good people get together--and they always do."
"'Three things very dull indeed.' That will just do for me, you know. I shall be sure to say three dull things as soon as ever I open my mouth, shan't I? . . . Do not you all think I shall?" Volume 3 Chapter 7
"You will be an old maid! and that's so dreadful!"
Oh, that I had been satisfied with persuading her not to accept young Martin. There I was quite right: that was well done of me; but here I should have stopped, and left the rest to time and chance.
In addition to all the above quotes -
Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.
"'I lay it down as a general rule, Harriet, that if a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him. If she can hesitate as to "Yes," she ought to say "No" directly.'" Chapter 7
"It darted through her with the speed of an arrow that Mr. Knightley must marry no one but herself!" Chapter 47
"I cannot make speeches, Emma . . . If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more." volume 3, chapter 13
"Matrimony, as the origin of change, was always disagreeable; . . . he was very much disposed to think Miss Taylor had done as sad a thing for herself as for them, and would have been a great deal happier if she had spent all the rest of her life at Hartfield." Chapter 1
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Emma Quotes
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