“How pleasant it is to spend an evening in this way! I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book!”
Miss Bingley, who is pretending to love reading because Darcy does, but she’s really incredibly bored by it
Pride and Prejudice, Vol 1, Ch 11
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Filed under Miss Bingley, Pride and Prejudice, Reading, Self-deception
Horrible Mrs. Norris!
“Mrs. Norris had not the least intention of being at any expense whatever in [Fanny’s] maintenance. As far as walking, talking, and contriving reached, she was thoroughly benevolent, and nobody knew better how to dictate liberality to others: but her love of money was equal to her love of directing, and she knew quite as well how to save her own as to spend that of her friends. …
“Under this infatuating principle, counteracted by no real affection for her sister, it was impossible for her to aim at more than the credit of projecting and arranging so expensive a charity; though perhaps she might so little know herself, as to walk home to the Parsonage after this conversation, in the happy belief of being the most liberal-minded sister and aunt in the world.”
Mansfield Park, volume 1, chapter 1 (emphasis mine)
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Filed under Economy, Generosity, Greed, Mansfield Park, Money, Self-deception
. . . Lady Middleton resigned herself to the idea of it, with all the philosophy of a well-bred woman, contenting herself with merely giving her husband a gentle reprimand on the subject five or six times every day.
Sense and Sensibility, volume 1, chapter 21
Of Lady Middleton not wanting to receive a visit from the Miss Steeles
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Filed under Lady Middleton, Marriage, Self-deception, Sense and Sensibility
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