“Only one comes back with me tomorrow, probably Miss Eliza, & I rather dread it. We shall not have two Ideas in common. She is young, pretty, chattering & thinking chiefly (I presume) of Dress, Company, & Admiration.”
Of a journey back home with one of the Miss Moores
letter to her niece, Fanny Knight
November 30, 1814 [114]
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Filed under Austen's friends, Beauty, Conversation, Letters, Youth
” . . . tho’ I like Miss H. M. as much as one can at my time of Life after a day’s acquaintance, it is uphill work to be talking to those whom one knows so little.”
letter to her niece, Fanny Knight
November 30, 1814 [114]
Filed under Austen's friends, Conversation, Letters
“She was a great talker upon little matters . . . full of trivial communications and harmless gossip.”
Our dear Miss Bates
Emma, volume 1, chapter 3
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Filed under Conversation, Emma, Miss Bates
“Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised or a little mistaken . . .”
Of Emma’s conversation with Mr. Knightley as he proposes, when she cuts him off and then suggests they “take another turn” in the garden. Knightley was ready to forgive any sort of awkwardness, because he understood Emma’s heart.
Emma, volume 3, chapter 13
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Filed under Conversation, Emma, Emma Woodhouse, Mr. Knightley, Proposals, Truth
“‘Three things very dull indeed.’ That will just do for me, you know. I shall be sure to say three dull things as soon as ever I open my mouth, shan’t I? . . . Do not you all think I shall?”
Miss Bates at the picnic at Box Hill
Emma, volume 3, chapter 7
Some days I empathize with poor Miss Bates!
This pic is of me at Box Hill during my trip.
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Filed under Conversation, Emma, Miss Bates
“Mary wished to say something very sensible, but knew not how.”
Mr. Bennet tries to provoke Mary into commenting on “the forms of introduction,” in the midst of all the hoopla about meeting Bingley
Pride & Prejudice, volume 1, chapter 2
Poor Mary! I empathize…
Image
©BBC 1994 for Masterpiece™
Filed under a Woman's mind, Conversation, Mary Bennet, Pride and Prejudice
This week, the grandaddy of all Austen adaptations (and my personal absolute all-time favorite), Pride & Prejudice. Whoo-hoo!
So many quotes… not sure where to start. But I love this line from Mrs. B.
“Not that I have much pleasure indeed in talking to anybody. People who suffer as I do from nervous complaints can have no great inclination for talking. Nobody can tell what I suffer!-But it is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied.”
Dear Mrs. Bennet, talking to Charlotte Lucas after her great disappointment in not getting Lizzy to accept Mr. Collins
Pride & Prejudice, volume 1, chapter 20 (emphasis mine)
Such a great pity party line!
Alison Steadman as Mrs. Bennet. Image copyright BBC. Watch an interview with Alison on the role of Mrs. B. at the BBC site.
The Jane Austen Guide to Life: Thoughtful Lessons for the Modern Woman (May, 2012)
A Walk with Jane Austen: A Journey into Adventure, Love, and Faith