Elizabeth Bennet Quotes

They may wish many things besides his happiness; they may wish his increase of wealth and consequence; they may wish him to marry a girl who has all the importance of money, great connections, and pride.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 24. Elizabeth bluntly tells Jane that she believes the Bingley sisters played a role in manipulating their brother Charles to apparently abandon Jane. And their motivation, she suggests, was that they may wish him to marry someone with money and better social position.

Let Wickham be your man. He is a pleasant fellow, and would jilt you creditably.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 24. Mr. Bennet, who is fond of teasing his daughters, is being sarcastic when he says this to Elizabeth. But as always there is some truth in Mr. Bennet’s sarcastic humor. Mr. Bennet’s ironic comment is also foreshadowing of Elizabeth’s growing attaction for Wickham and her losing him to another woman. Irony is embedded in the soul of Austen’s novel and is one of her most important tools.

We do not suffer by accident. It does not often happen that the interference of friends will persuade a young man of independent fortune to think no more of a girl whom he was violently in love with only a few days before.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 25. Elizabeth says this to Mrs. Gardiner about the break-up between Jane and Mr. Bingley. The "interference" she refers to is by Mr. Darcy, whom she blames for persuading his friend Bingley to pull away from Jane despite being "violently in love" with her.

I never saw a more promising inclination; he was growing quite inattentive to other people, and wholly engrossed by her. Every time they met, it was more decided and remarkable. At his own ball he offended two or three young ladies, by not asking them to dance; and I spoke to him twice myself, without receiving an answer. Could there be finer symptoms? Is not general incivility the very essence of love?

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 25. Elizabeth speaks about Mr. Bingley’s love for Jane. She believes that it was a very real and deep love, not something fleeting as Elizabeth’s aunt Mrs. Gardiner has suggested. She cites Bingley’s behavior at his own ball in Netherfield, where he was totally engrossed by Jane and ignoring the other young ladies.

Seriously, I would have you be on your guard. Do not involve yourself, or endeavour to involve him in an affection which the want of fortune would make so very imprudent. I have nothing to say against him; he is a most interesting young man; and if he had the fortune he ought to have, I should think you could not do better. But as it is, you must not let your fancy run away with you. You have sense, and we all expect you to use it.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 26. Mrs. Gardiner speaks to Elizabeth over her attraction to George Wickham and warns her against marrying him. She points out that his lack of money makes him an unsuitable match. The Bennets’ economic situation – Longbourn is entailed to male heirs and will pass out of family hands on the death of Mr. Bennet – puts pressure on them to marry someone who is wealthy.

I am not in love with Mr. Wickham; no, I certainly am not. But he is, beyond all comparison, the most agreeable man I ever saw – and if he becomes really attached to me – I believe it will be better that he should not. I see the imprudence of it.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 26. While Elizabeth thinks that George Wickham is the "most agreeable man" she ever set eyes on, she declares that she is not in love with him. She says this to her aunt Mrs. Gardiner, who has cautioned her not to grow too attached to him.

She wrote cheerfully, seemed surrounded with comforts, and mentioned nothing which she could not praise. The house, furniture, neighbourhood, and roads, were all to her taste, and Lady Catherine’s behaviour was most friendly and obliging. It was Mr. Collins’s picture of Hunsford and Rosings rationally softened; and Elizabeth perceived that she must wait for her own visit there to know the rest.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 26. Elizabeth receives a letter from her friend Charlotte after her marriage to Mr. Collins. Charlotte seems content with her new life at Hunsford and everything is going well there and at Rosings. Even the haughty Lady Catherine is being ever so friendly and obliging. Elizabeth plans to pay a visit to see for herself.

My dearest Lizzy will, I am sure, be incapable of triumphing in her better judgement, at my expense, when I confess myself to have been entirely deceived in Miss Bingley’s regard for me. But, my dear sister, though the event has proved you right, do not think me obstinate if I still assert that, considering what her behaviour was, my confidence was as natural as your suspicion. I do not at all comprehend her reason for wishing to be intimate with me; but if the same circumstances were to happen again, I am sure I should be deceived again. Caroline did not return my visit till yesterday; and not a note, not a line, did I receive in the meantime. When she did come, it was very evident that she had no pleasure in it; she made a slight, formal apology for not calling before, said not a word of wishing to see me again, and was in every respect so altered a creature, that when she went away, I was perfectly resolved to continue the acquaintance no longer.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 26. The good-hearted Jane Bennet decides it is time to call a halt to a friendship with Caroline Bingley. In a letter to Elizabeth, Jane confesses that her sister’s suspicions about Caroline were right. Jane reveals that Caroline did not answer a letter she wrote to her and was subsequently cold towards her when they met. Jane at last recognizes Caroline’s insincerity and deception and realizes that she is a false friend.

This letter gave Elizabeth some pain; but her spirits returned as she considered that Jane would no longer be duped by the sister at least. All expectation from the brother was now absolutely over. She would not even wish for any renewal of his attentions. His character sunk on every review of it; and as a punishment for him, as well as a possible advantage to Jane, she seriously hoped he might really soon marry Mr. Darcy’s sister, as by Wickham’s account, she would make him abundantly regret what he had thrown away.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 26. Jane has written from London to Elizabeth saying that she hasn’t heard from Charles Bingley since he left Netherfield. Elizabeth is pained by her sister’s situation, but her spirits lift when she considers that Jane will no longer be duped by Caroline Bingley. She hopes that Mr. Bingley ends up marrying Georgiana Darcy, a match that Caroline has been trying to bring about.

I am now convinced, my dear aunt, that I have never been much in love; for had I really experienced that pure and elevating passion, I should at present detest his very name, and wish him all manner of evil. But my feelings are not only cordial towards him; they are even impartial towards Miss King.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 26. Elizabeth writes a letter to Mrs. Gardiner, on her losing George Wickham to Miss Mary King. Wickham’s romantic attentions have now turned to Miss King, who has just inherited a large fortune. Elizabeth jokingly tells her aunt that she couldn’t have loved Wickham, because she doesn’t hate him now that he is with someone else.

What is the difference in matrimonial affairs, between the mercenary and the prudent move? What does discretion end, and avarice begin?

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 27. Elizabeth says this to Mrs. Gardiner, when she labels George Wickham mercenary because he dropped Elizabeth for Miss King who has inherited ten thousand pounds. How does one tell the difference between the mercenary and the prudent and the discreet and the avaricious when it comes to marital affairs, she asks? Elizabeth is calling out the hypocrisy of her aunt warning her the previous Christmas against marrying Wickham because of "want of fortune."

Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing after all.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 27. Elizabeth is being sarcastic and ironic here and doesn’t mean what she says. She is referring to Mr. Collins, a man who is stupid but whom she finds irritable and not the least attractive. Fed up with men and abandoned by George Wickam, she makes this comment to her aunt as she is about to visit the Collinses. This is the full quote of what Elizabeth says to Mrs. Gardiner: "Oh! if that is all, I have a very poor opinion of young men who live in Derbyshire; and their intimate friends who live in Hertfordshire are not much better. I am sick of them all. Thank Heaven! I am going to-morrow where I shall find a man who has not one agreeable quality, who has neither manner nor sense to recommend him. Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing, after all." To this her aunt reponds: "Take care, Lizzy; that speech savours strongly of disappointment."

When Mr. Collins said anything of which his wife might reasonably be ashamed, which certainly was not unseldom, she involuntarily turned her eye on Charlotte. Once or twice she could discern a faint blush; but in general Charlotte wisely did not hear.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 28. When Elizabeth visits the parsonage home of the Collinses, she observes that Charlotte doesn’t even listen to Mr. Collins, but ignores him and carries on contentedly with her life. Charlotte’s solution to a husband who constantly says ridiculous things – she doesn’t hear them! Much is made of Charlotte’s sacrifice in marrying for practicality rather than romance. But Mr. Collins is also humiliated and degraded, with his wife having no genuine respect or affection for him.

Mr. Collins invited them to take a stroll in the garden, which was large and well laid out, and to the cultivation of which he attended himself. To work in this garden was one of his most respectable pleasures; and Elizabeth admired the command of countenance with which Charlotte talked of the healthfulness of the exercise, and owned she encouraged it as much as possible.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 28. Mr. Collins was not afraid to get his hands dirty working in his garden, Elizabeth discovers when she goes to stay with the recently married Collinses. And of course his wife Charlotte is happy to be free of his company for a few hours every day.

Here, leading the way through every walk and cross walk, and scarcely allowing them an interval to utter the praises he asked for, every view was pointed out with a minuteness which left beauty entirely behind. He could number the fields in every direction, and could tell how many trees there were in the most distant clump. But of all the views which his garden, or which the country or kingdom could boast, none were to be compared with the prospect of Rosings, afforded by an opening in the trees that bordered the park nearly opposite the front of his house. It was a handsome modern building, well situated on rising ground.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 28. Elizabeth visits the parsonage home of Mr. Collins after his marriage to her friend Charlotte Lucas. Mr. Collins takes her on a tour of the place, showing off every feature of the garden and going into the minutest detail like how many trees he has. The garden has a view of Lady Catherine’s home of Rosings, described as being on "rising ground," suggesting the owner’s high social status compared to the Collinses.

When Mr. Collins could be forgotten, there was really an air of great comfort throughout, and by Charlotte’s evident enjoyment of it, Elizabeth supposed he must be often forgotten.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 28. Charlotte and Mr. Collins’s marriage is not a love match but very much one of convenience. Here Elizabeth is commenting on their relationship. Charlotte is content with the comfortable life she has made for herself in the parsonage – as long as she can forget all about Mr. Collins. And judging by Charlotte’s evident enjoyment, Elizabeth says that Mr. Collins must be forgotten about often.

Do not make yourself uneasy, my dear cousin, about your apparel. Lady Catherine is far from requiring that elegance of dress in us which becomes herself and daughter. I would advise you merely to put on whatever of your clothes is superior to the rest…she likes to have the distinction of rank preserved.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 29. Mr. Collins tells Elizabeth this when they are invited to dine with Lady Catherine de Bourgh at Rosings. The ridiculous snobbery, vanity and obsession with social rank of both Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine are beautifully satirized in this passage where Mr. Collins suggests Elizabeth doesn’t have an elegant dress.

Elizabeth found that nothing was beneath this great lady’s attention, which could furnish her with an occasion of dictating to others.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 29. In her visit to Rosings, Elizabeth discovers that Lady Catherine de Bourgh meddles a lot in other people’s lives. She likes to "dictate" to other people what to do. Elizabeth makes this observation after Lady Catherine inquiries into Charlotte’s domestic affairs, then proceeds to give her a great deal of advice on the management of them all.

"All! – What, all five out at once? Very odd! – And you only the second. – The younger ones out before the elder are married! – Your younger sisters must be very young?"
"Yes, my youngest is not sixteen. Perhaps she is full young to be much in company. But really, Ma’am, I think it would be very hard upon younger sisters, that they should not have their share of society and amusement because the elder may not have the means or inclination to marry early. – The last born has as good a right to the pleasures of youth, as the first. And to be kept back on such a motive! – I think it would not be very likely to promote sisterly affection or delicacy of mind."
"Upon my word," said her ladyship, "you give your opinion very decidedly for so young a person. Pray, what is your age?"
"With three younger sisters grown up," replied Elizabeth, smiling, "your ladyship can hardly expect me to own it."
Lady Catherine seemed quite astonished at not receiving a direct answer; and Elizabeth suspected herself to be the first creature who had ever dared to trifle with so much dignified impertinence.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 29. This passage is a foretaste of things to come, as Elizabeth stands her ground with Lady Catherine de Bourgh, a formidable woman used to getting her own way. Elizabeth refuses to tell Lady Catherine her age when she asks her and doesn’t concede to the noble lady’s opinions. Lady Catherine comments that Elizabeth is very forward about offering her opinions. The famous clash later between the two as Lady Catherine attempts to block any marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth is foreshadowed here.

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.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 31. Elizabeth proudly declares this to Mr. Darcy when he positions himself to have a full view of her performing on the piano at Rosings. She taunts him by saying that he means to frighten her, but she is the kind of person who will not be alarmed. Her outspoken and saucy comments draw this response from Darcy: "I shall not say that you are mistaken because you could not really believe me to entertain any design of alarming you; and I have had the pleasure of your acquaintance long enough to know that you find great enjoyment in occasionally professing opinions which in fact are not your own." Is Darcy right? Is Elizabeth who she says she is and really being herself in this exchange: spirited, courageous, self-confident? Or is her wit and outspokennness with Darcy a defense shield to protect herself and her ego against proud upper class men like him in a male-dominated society?

"I certainly have not the talent which some people possess," said Darcy, "of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done."
"My fingers," said Elizabeth, "do not move over this instrument in the masterly manner which I see so many women’s do. They have not the same force or rapidity, and do not produce the same expression. But then I have always supposed it to be my own fault – because I would not take the trouble of practising."

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 31. We learn from Darcy that he is shy and is not comfortable with having to converse with strangers. But Elizabeth is having none of his excuses. She suggests that his manners are bad and he is a poor conversationalist, because he doesn’t take the time to improve his conversational skills. She compares it to her piano playing, saying her performance is poor because she doesn’t practice enough.
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