Shall we ask him why a man of sense and education, and who has lived in the world, is ill qualified to recommend himself to strangers?
– Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 31. Elizabeth asks this of Colonel Fitzwilliam about his cousin Mr. Darcy. She is teasing Darcy for his excuses in barely dancing at all at the ball in Maryton. Darcy has claimed that he is ill at ease at the idea of introducing himself to strangers.