Jane Austen Quotes

A mistake thousands of women fall into

"Poor dear Mr J.P.!--Oh! dear Fanny, Your mistake has been one that thousands of women fall into.  He was the first young Man who attached himself to you.  That was the charm, & most powerful it is."

letter to her niece, Fanny Knight, about Mr. John Plumptre, whom Fanny was considering marrying
November 18, 1814 [109]

Olivia Williams as letter-writing aunt Jane Austen. ©BBC 2007 for MASTERPIECE

Opinion and Counsel

"My dearest Fanny, I am writing what will not be of the smallest use to you.  I am feeling differently every moment, & shall not be able to suggest a single thing that can assist your Mind.--I could lament in one sentence & laugh in the next, but as to Opinion or Counsel I am sure none will be extracted worth having from this Letter."

letter to her niece Fanny Knight
November 18, 1814 [109]

What strange creatures

"From the time of our being in London together, I thought you really very much in love.--But you certainly are not at all--there is no concealing it.--What strange creatures we are!--It seems as if your being secure of him (as you say yourself) had made you Indifferent."

letter to her niece, Fanny Knight, about Mr. John Plumptre, whom Fanny was considering marrying
November 18, 1814 [109]

Such beings

This coming Sunday night PBS will show Miss Austen Regrets, a biopic which finds Jane at forty "looking back on her own potential suitors and the choices she has made."  I'm the tiniest bit skeptical.  I don't think Austen spent much time on regrets, really. It seems to be based in part, though, on her wonderful letters to her niece Fanny, where she tries to help Fanny decide whether or not (and whom) to marry.  Love that series of letters.  Will share bits and pieces this week.

"There are such beings in the World, perhaps, one in a Thousand, as the Creature You & I should think perfection, where Grace & Spirit are united to Worth, where the Manners are equal to the Heart & Understanding, but such a person may not come in your way, or if he does, he may not be the eldest son of a Man of Fortune, the Brother of your particular friend, & belonging to your own County."

letter to Fanny Knight
November 18, 1814 [109] (emphasis mine)

Imogen Poots as Fanny Knight with Olivia Williams as Jane Austen.  ©BBC 2007 for MASTERPIECE

Some thoughts on Mansfield Park

I was debating about whether to post this now or wait until Sunday, but my thoughts on Mansfield Park have been posted over on the PBS.org blog, Remotely Connected.  I was thrilled to be asked to do this.  Check it out now, or wait until Sunday night and weigh in with your own opinion.

Fanny Price is a ninny.  (Forgive me, dear Jane.)  I’ve tried to like her and I can’t.

When I was first asked to blog about Mansfield Park, the editor mentioned that she saw “such similarity” between me and Fanny. I had to stop to consider whether or not that was an insult.

more here...

The transfer of unchanging attachments

"I purposely abstain from dates on this occasion, that every one may be at liberty to fix their own, aware that the cure of unconquerable passions, and the transfer of unchanging attachments, must vary much as to time in different people. I only entreat everybody to believe that exactly at the time when it was quite natural that it should be so, and not a week earlier, Edmund did cease to care about Miss Crawford, and became as anxious to marry Fanny as Fanny herself could desire."

Mansfield Park, volume 3, chapter 17

See a preview on the PBS site.

Blake Ritson as Edmund Bertram.  ©Jon Hall/ITV plc (Granada International) for Masterpiece™

On being taken in ... er, getting married

"Everybody is taken in at some period or other. . . . In marriage especially . . . there is not one in a hundred of either sex who is not taken in when they marry.  Look where I will, I see that it is so; and I feel that it must be so, when I consider that it is, of all transactions, the one in which people expect most from others, and are least honest themselves."

Mary Crawford
Mansfield Park, volume 1, chapter 5

More on the Masterpiece site.

Hayley Atwell as Mary Crawford. ©Jon Hall/ITV plc (Granada International) for Masterpiece™

Marrying properly

"I would have everybody marry if they can do it properly; I do not like to have people throw themselves away; but everybody should marry as soon as they can do it to advantage."

Mary Crawford
Mansfield Park, volume 1, chapter 4

Heaven's last best gift

"I am of a cautious temper, and unwilling to risk my happiness in a hurry.  Nobody can think more highly of the matrimonial state than myself.  I consider the blessing of a wife as most justly described in those discreet lines of the poet, 'Heaven's last best gift.'"

Mansfield Park, volume 1, chapter 4

According to my Oxford World's Classics edition, Henry Crawford is joking about Milton's Paradise Lost, in which "Adam describes Eve as God's ultimate gift; Henry Crawford wittily turns the line to express his preference for deferring wedlock."

Hmm... I have known many men "of a cautious temper."

Joseph Beattie as Henry Crawford.  ©Jon Hall/ITV plc (Granada International) for Masterpiece™

Men of large fortune

This week -- my absolute least favorite Austen novel:  Mansfield Park.  Have you read it?  Do you like it?

Starting off with this little gem:

"But there certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them."

Mansfield Park, volume 1, chapter 1

Billie Piper as Fanny Price.  Thanks to the Guardian for the image.