"Your defect is a propensity to hate everybody."
"And yours," he replied with a smile, "is willfully to misunderstand them."
– Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 11. Elizabeth and Darcy continue to verbally spar, some might say flirt as there is a palpable sexual tension between the usually solemn Darcy and the playful Elizabeth. Darcy has been trying to seriously explain that everyone has a natural defect despite the best education. In this exchange Elizabeth makes a joke of this and teases by telling him that his defect is to hate everybody. But he is ready for her with his quick comeback that her defect is to wilfully misunderstand everybody – Darcy reads Elizabeth’s nature well here.