"There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and everyday confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of either merit or sense."
Lizzy talking to her sister Jane, upon hearing of Charlotte's wedding and after a letter from Caroline Bingley, hinting at her brother's supposed indifference
Pride & Prejudice, Volume 2, Chapter 1
Oh, what a day! Today there are few people of whom I think well. My internet access at home is out for the day. My new service provider cut the old one off and hasn't turned the new one on yet. Of course, they didn't tell me they were going to do this. So I spent like half an hour on the phone talking to five different people (including an insanely annoying animated computer thing that kept asking over and over why I needed to talk to a customer service rep -- argh!). Every one of them needed my account information and my special secret password -- again! Like, what, inbetween when they talked to me and they transferred me, I just handed the phone to some random individual who wanted to sabotage me by trying to get the internet working in my home??? ARRRGH!
Lovely Jennifer Ehle icon is from the icon contest a while back at Jane Austen Today, created by Sands at the web forum A Truth Universally Acknowledged. (Rerunning this post from a while back, so some of the comments are older.)
I think this may have been Lizzie's - lowest point in the novel. It's certainly one of, if not the most, cynical statements uttered by an Austen heroine. But it's nice to be reminded that even optimistic people get discouraged sometimes!
Posted by: JaneFan | December 20, 2006 at 09:18 AM
some of this, too, may just come from her need to convince Jane that others may really not have the best of intentions. Coming up against Jane's eternal optimism would send me running to the dark side as well, even more than would seem necessary just to help even out the scales...
Posted by: crzylady | December 20, 2006 at 11:55 AM
This is probably one of my favorite lines from Pride & Prejudice. I like the idea that she distinguishes love (obviously of her family, for instance) and who she thinks well of -- she has a critical mind and isn't afraid to think of people with a critical and perhaps skeptical view
Posted by: Jennifer | December 20, 2006 at 04:40 PM
We Janites on the James have been rereading Jane Austen's novels, starting with Pride and Prejudice. We are reading Sense and Sensibility next. Your quote brings Lizzie back in all her glorious complexity.
Our blog describes Jane's world: your blog uses her words to describe her characters. What a nice dovetailing of purposes. I've added your blog to mine, as I just love it.
Posted by: ms. place | December 20, 2006 at 10:37 PM
This is actually one of my favorite all-time Austen quotes. I think the sentiment came from Austen herself--she was so sensible of people's failings. I don't think she could have written the books she did without that. And yet, usually in her works as well, there is grace for almost every character. The reader is not usually allowed to see only the bad side of someone, except in the worst cases.
So glad to be introduced to the Janeites on the James!
Posted by: Lori Smith | December 21, 2006 at 07:05 PM
I love this line! I think that is my favourite P&P quote. That's really the way that I fell about the world.
Posted by: Luciana | May 10, 2007 at 05:51 PM
Great quote. It reminds us how human Jane's characters are and why we enjoy them so much. I feel for you with the internet problems. It's no fun.
Posted by: Georgie Lee | February 15, 2008 at 05:13 PM
Great quote. It reminds us how human Jane's characters are and why we enjoy them so much. I feel for you with the internet problems. It's no fun.
Posted by: Georgie Lee | February 15, 2008 at 05:13 PM
I particularly love the first 2 lines of this quote.
"....few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well". So, there is someone whom Lizzy loves, but of whom she doesn't think well. And at this moment of the story it's not Mr. Darcy!
How many people do you love, without approving them completely? Love is stronger and bigger!
Thank you Lori for your daily piece of happiness.
Loredana
Posted by: loredana | February 16, 2008 at 02:43 PM
Hey,
I just got your book as a valentines present from my dad. It's a good read. I've only gotten half-way through the book but I just had to find your blog and say something about it. I've been falling deeply in love with Jane Austen! Especially since PBS has been doing remakes of her stories every Sunday night. Yay!
Posted by: Katie B. | February 18, 2008 at 03:04 PM
Thanks, Katie! So glad you have found Austen!
Posted by: Lori Smith | February 19, 2008 at 06:23 PM
Loredana -- I always thought that probably Lizzy's family and some of her neighbors were included in that group -- the ones she loves but doesn't always think well of.
Posted by: Lori Smith | February 19, 2008 at 06:30 PM
"There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well."
There are so many quotes in Pride and Prejudice that I agree with, this one is not exception. There are some days that I agree with this more than others, but overall it is a classic quote that lets everyone know that even 200 years ago they had the potential to be ashamed of their friends and family no matter how much they loved them
Posted by: LovePridePrejudice | March 02, 2008 at 06:57 PM