Far be it from me, my dear sister, to depreciate such pleasures! They would doubtless be congenial with the generality of female minds. But I confess they would have no charms for me – I should infinitely prefer a book.
– Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 39. Mary Bennet says this to fun-loving sister Lydia, who has been "enumerating the various pleasures of the morning" and is intent on going to Brighton to flirt with the campful of soldiers that will be there for the summer. Mary agrees that such pleasures are to most females’ liking, but she prefers to read.