Elizabeth Bennet Quotes

As Elizabeth had no longer any interest of her own to pursue, she turned her attention almost entirely on her sister and Mr. Bingley; and the train of agreeable reflections which her observations gave birth to, made her perhaps almost as happy as Jane. She saw her in idea settled in that very house, in all the felicity which a marriage of true affection could bestow.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 18. Happiness can be infectious. Elizabeth turns her attention to how her sister Jane and Mr. Bingley interact at the Netherfield ball. The narrator describes how Elizabeth’s observations metaphorically give birth to happy thoughts about Jane’s romance blossoming into marriage. This makes Elizabeth almost as happy as Jane.

In vain did Elizabeth endeavour to check the rapidity of her mother’s words, or persuade her to describe her felicity in a less audible whisper; for, to her inexpressible vexation, she could perceive that the chief of it was overheard by Mr. Darcy, who sat opposite to them. Her mother only scolded her for being nonsensical.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 18. Elizabeth tries to stop the irrepressible Mrs. Bennet from speaking out loud about an imminent marriage between Jane and Mr. Bingley. But she cannot shut her up, and to Elizabeth’s mortification Mr. Darcy overhears all.

Nothing that she could say, however, had any influence. Her mother would talk of her views in the same intelligible tone. Elizabeth blushed and blushed again with shame and vexation.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 18. At dinner in Netherfield Elizabeth is very embarrassed by her mother, who is speaking loudly about Charles Bingley’s attraction to Jane and assuming that their marriage is immiment. She overhears Mrs. Bennet boasting to Lady Lucas that she expected Jane to be married soon to Mr. Bingley, which was overheard by Mr. Darcy, to Elizabeth’s horror and shame. But once Mrs. Bennet was in full flow on the subject of the marriage of her daughter, there was nothing Elizabeth could do to shut her up.

To Elizabeth it appeared, that had her family made an agreement to expose themselves as much as they could during the evening, it would have been impossible for them to play their parts with more spirit, or finer success; and happy did she think it for Bingley and her sister that some of the exhibition had escaped his notice, and that his feelings were not of a sort to be much distressed by the folly which he must have witnessed.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 18. Elizabeth is mortified by her family’s behavior at the Netherfield ball. Some of the Bennet women are lacking in the social graces and they embarrass Elizabeth when mingling with high class people like the Bingleys and Mr. Darcy.

That his two sisters and Mr. Darcy, however, should have such an opportunity of ridiculing her relations, was bad enough, and she could not determine whether the silent contempt of the gentleman, or the insolent smiles of the ladies, were more intolerable.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 18. Elizabeth is embarrassed by the behavior of her family at the Netherfield ball. She is even more mortified that it has given Mr. Darcy and the Bingley sisters Caroline and Louisa so much ammunition to ridicule her family.

Believe me, my dear Miss Elizabeth, that your modesty, so far from doing you any disservice, rather adds to your other perfections. You would have been less amiable in my eyes had there not been this little unwillingness.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 19. Mr. Collins is about to enter the record books for making the worst marriage proposal in English literature. But Elizabeth attempts to leave the room before he begins, as because she clearly has no desire to hear him out. In an excellent example of dramatic irony, Mr. Collins mistakingly attributes her "little unwillingness" to her "modesty" and says this makes her even more "amiable" to him. Mr. Collins misreads the situation because of his vanity.

"You are too hasty, sir," she cried. "You forget that I have made no answer. Let me do it without further loss of time. Accept my thanks for the compliment you are paying me. I am very sensible of the honour of your proposals, but it is impossible for me to do otherwise than decline them."

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 19. Mr. Collins is so certain that Elizabeth will say yes to his marriage proposal, he doesn’t give her a chance to speak. So she has to interrupt him to get his attention. She politely turns down his proposal.

It is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favour; and that sometimes the refusal is repeated a second, or even a third time. I am therefore by no means discouraged by what you have just said.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 19. There is dramatic irony here, because the reader knows that Elizabeth is being sincere in her refusal of Mr. Collins’s proposal of marriage, but he interprets it as a sign of her being modest. Mr. Collins is just one of those men who refuses to hear the word "no." He is being rather full of himself with his sense of self-importance, thinking that he is God’s gift to unmarried women looking for a husband.

I do assure you that I am not one of those young ladies (if such young ladies there are) who are so daring as to risk their happiness on the chance of being asked a second time. I am perfectly serious in my refusal. You could not make me happy, and I am convinced that I am the last woman in the world who could make you so.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 19. Elizabeth has a hard time getting Mr. Collins to accept that she doesn’t want to marry him, as he believes it is usual for young ladies to reject a proposal the first time, so it has to be repeated. But she makes clear that she is perfectly serious about her refusal. She points out that she is not the kind of woman to first say "no" and then say "yes" to a proposal of marriage. Her statement turns out to be ironic, because that’s exactly what she will do with Darcy.

You must give me leave to judge for myself, and pay me the compliment of believing what I say.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 19. When Elizabeth rejects Mr. Collins’s proposal, he doesn’t accept that it’s a refusal and indicates that he will persist a second and even third time until she says "yes." She firmly and swiftly rejects this attempt to control how she should think and dictate the decisions of her heart. The fuller quote is: "Indeed, Mr. Collins, all praise of me will be unnecessary. You must give me leave to judge for myself, and pay me the compliment of believing what I say. I wish you very happy and very rich, and by refusing your hand, do all in my power to prevent your being otherwise."

"Really, Mr. Collins," cried Elizabeth with some warmth, "you puzzle me exceedingly. If what I have hitherto said can appear to you in the form of encouragement, I know not how to express my refusal in such a way as to convince you of its being one."

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 19. Mr. Collins is not a man who is easily discouraged, indeed he is too stupid to get the message. Elizabeth is forced to repeat her refusal of his marriage proposal when he promises to come back again hoping to receive "a more favourable answer."

In spite of your manifold attractions, it is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may ever be made to you. Your portion is unhappily so small that it will in all likelihood undo the effects of your loveliness and amiable qualifications.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 19. Mr. Collin’s proposal to Elizabeth is probably the most famous and worst marriage proposal in literature. And this passage would be hard to surpass for the top prize for the worst chat-up line ever! When Elizabeth politely turns him down, Mr. Collins comes back to tell her that she may never get another marriage offer – he, in effect, is her last chance saloon! He demeans her by insulting her (and all women) that her income is so little she will never get another chance of winning a husband. And this is how Mr. Collins asks for a woman’s hand in marriage? What arrogance and vanity! Mr. Collins obviously never went to charm school, he never felt the need to as he thinks so highly of himself!

"As I must therefore conclude that you are not serious in your rejection of me, I shall choose to attribute it to your wish of increasing my love by suspense, according to the usual practice of elegant females."
"I do assure you, Sir, that I have no pretension whatever to that kind of elegance which consists in tormenting a respectable man. I would rather be paid the compliment of being believed sincere. I thank you again and again for the honour you have done me in your proposals, but to accept them is absolutely impossible. My feelings in every respect forbid it. Can I speak plainer? Do not consider me now as an elegant female, intending to plague you, but as a rational creature, speaking the truth from her heart."

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 19. Elizabeth is trying to reinforce the message to Mr. Collins that she doesn’t wish to marry him, but he appears to be a little dense and mentally hard of hearing. The dumbfounded Collins does not believe that her rejection of his marriage proposal is at all serious. He ludicrously views it as the ploy of elegant females to keep a man in suspense and increase his love. Elizabeth assures him that her refusal is sincere.

To such perseverance in wilful self-deception, Elizabeth would make no reply, and immediately and in silence withdrew; determined, that if he persisted in considering her repeated refusals as flattering encouragement, to apply to her father, whose negative might be uttered in such a manner as must be decisive, and whose behaviour at least could not be mistaken for the affectation and coquetry of an elegant female.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 19. Elizabeth can no longer stay and listen to Mr. Collins’s "wilful" exercise in self-deceit as he refuses to accept her refusal to marry him. She leaves the room and determines that if Mr. Collins should persist, she will have her father give him the message. She believes that Mr. Bennet’s "no" won’t be mistaken for female pretension or flirtation.

"But depend upon it, Mr. Collins," she added, "that Lizzy shall be brought to reason. I will speak to her about it myself directly. She is a very headstrong, foolish girl, and does not know her own interest; but I will make her know it."

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 20. When Elizabeth turns down Mr. Collins’s offer of marriage, Mrs. Bennet assures him that she will have strong words with her to make her see reason. Mrs. Bennet just wants to get her daughters married and doesn’t care who or how suitable a man they marry. Her description of Elizabeth as being "headstrong" is rather accurate and is repeated later in the story when Elizabeth clashes with Lady Catherine de Bourgh: "Obstinate, headstrong girl!"

Oh! Mr. Bennet, you are wanted immediately; we are all in an uproar. You must come and make Lizzy marry Mr. Collins, for she vows she will not have him.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 20. The ridiculous Mrs. Bennet is satirized here as she reacts to Elizabeth’s rejection of Mr. Collins’s marriage offer. In her cry for help she appeals to the man of the house Mr. Bennet to use his fatherly authority and compel Elizabeth to marry Mr. Collins, despite her vowing she will not have him. Mrs. Bennet’s sole thought in life is to get her daughters married.

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.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 20. Irony is Jane Austen’s forte and she uses it here to humorous effect through the character of Mr. Bennet. He tells Elizabeth that she will metaphorically be a stranger to her mother if she doesn’t marry Mr. Collins, and a stranger to her father if she does.

Indeed, Jane, you ought to believe me. No one who has ever seen you together can doubt his affection. Miss Bingley, I am sure, cannot. She is not such a simpleton. Could she have seen half as much love in Mr. Darcy for herself, she would have ordered her wedding clothes. But the case is this: We are not rich enough or grand enough for them.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 21. Elizabeth attempts to convince her sister Jane that Charles Bingley really loves her. She tells her that Caroline Bingley is trying to keep them apart because the Bennets are not wealthy enough or of high enough class.

If, upon mature deliberation, you find that the misery of disobliging his two sisters is more than equivalent to the happiness of being his wife, I advise you by all means to refuse him.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 21. Elizabeth says this to a despondent Jane, who asks her can she be happy in accepting a man whose sisters and friends are all wishing him to marry someone else. Caroline Bingley has been attemping to break Jane and Charles Bingley up because she hopes he will marry Georgiana Darcy.

Charlotte’s kindness extended farther than Elizabeth had any conception of; – its object was nothing else than to secure her from any return of Mr. Collins’s addresses, by engaging them towards herself. Such was Miss Lucas’s scheme.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 22. Elizabeth appreciates the kindness of her friend Charlotte who deflects the attentions of Mr. Collins away from her and towards Charlotte herself. But Charlotte is being calculating here in attending to Mr. Collins and keeping him occupied. This is foreshadowing of Charlotte’s engagement to Mr. Collins soon after this.

She had always felt that Charlotte’s opinion of matrimony was not exactly like her own, but she could not have supposed it possible that, when called into action, she would have sacrificed every better feeling to worldly advantage.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 22. Elizabeth is shocked that her friend Charlotte Lucas is engaged to be married to Mr. Collins. While they didn’t quite share the same views on marriage, the horrified Elizabeth never believed that Charlotte would sacrifice all her better feelings for financial security and status. Elizabeth’s own strong sense of integrity would never allow her to sell out her values in the same way Charlotte has done. Elizabeth has a more romantic and idealized view of marriage being about love and mutual respect.

She could not think without anger, hardly without contempt, on that easiness of temper, that want of proper resolution which now made him the slave of his designing friends, and led him to sacrifice his own happiness to the caprice of their inclinations.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 24. Elizabeth is contemptuous of Charles Bingley’s weakness of character, which allowed his sisters and friend Mr. Darcy to determine his affections. She is referring to his breakup with her sister Jane. Elizabeth’s complaint that Bingley can’t direct his own feelings is ironic, since her affections and feelings are being directed by George Wickham and his lies.

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.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 24. This isn’t the usual smart and witty Elizabeth, but a more pessimistic version of her. She sounds disillusioned with life and people’s lack of integrity. But perhaps her sentiments are understandable. They are expressed when Bingley allows himself to be influenced by others to move away from Jane to London, and also when her friend Charlotte chooses a loveless marriage to Mr. Collins. Elizabeth is a woman of honesty and virtue who doesn’t suffer those who are morally weak or bereft gladly.

You shall not, for the sake of one individual, change the meaning of principle and integrity, nor endeavour to persuade yourself or me, that selfishness is prudence, and insensibility of danger security for happiness.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 24. Elizabeth is arguing with her sister Jane about the marriage between Charlotte and Mr. Collins. She pours scorn on Jane’s attempts to defend the marriage. Elizabeth is resolved not to marry for mercenary motives and is opposed to marriage not based on love.

"It is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us. Women fancy admiration means more than it does."
"And men take care that they should."

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 24. This exchange between Jane and Elizabeth takes place after Charles Bingley suddenly ups and leaves Meryton and Jane. While Elizabeth is critical of Bingley and his sister, Jane refuses to attach bad motives to them. She believes that women’s vanity often leads to self-deceit and a woman thinking that a man likes them more than he does.
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