Published in 1813, Pride and Prejudice is one of the most enduring romance novels in the English language. Despite the fact that our world looks much different now, the book remains a favorite more than 200 years later because the central plot is so timeless. After all, who among us hasn't had a complicated crush?
Below are 25 of our favorite quotes from Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen's words never fail to give us that fluttery feeling—keep reading to see what we mean.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
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“If a woman is partial to a man, and does not endeavour to conceal it, he must find it out.”
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“We can all begin freely—a slight preference is natural enough; but there are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement.”
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“...and Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her.”
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"To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love."
“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?”
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“Till this moment, I never knew myself.”
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“She wanted to hear of him, when there seemed the least chance of gaining intelligence. She was convinced that she could have been happy with him, when it was no longer likely they should meet.”
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“She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man, who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes.”
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“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
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“‘I often think,’ said she, ‘that there is nothing so bad as parting with one’s friends. One seems so forlorn without them.’”
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“...but that was only when I first knew her, for it is many months since I have considered her as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance.”
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“I think you are in very great danger of making him as much in love with you as ever.”
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“‘I am certainly the most fortunate creature that ever existed!’ cried Jane. ‘Oh! Lizzy, why am I thus singled from my family and blessed above them all! If I could but see you as happy! If there were but such another man for you!”
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“Her heart did whisper that he had done it for her.”
“I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected to me.”
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“If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever.”
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“The happiness this reply produced, was such as he had probably never felt before; and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do. Had Elizabeth been able to encounter his eye, she might have seen how well the expression of heartfelt delight, diffused over his face, became him; but, though she could not look, she could listen, and he told her of feelings, which, in proving of what importance she was to him, made his affection every moment more valuable.”
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“They walked on, without knowing in what direction. There was too much to be thought, and felt, and said, for attention to any other objects.”
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“Oh Lizzy! do anything rather than marry without affection.”
“You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.”
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“You shewed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.”
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“I have no more to say. If this be the case, he deserves you. I could not have parted with you, my Lizzy, to any one less worthy.”
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“I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but not one with such justice.”
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“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”
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Featured still from Pride & Prejudice via Focus Features
