Happy Valentine’s Day, gentle readers! I looked for something from Jane that would be rather inspiring about love, but she actually has more sharp than flowery comments (as you would expect), so I offer you this from dear Lizzy, one of Austen’s oft-quoted lines on the nature of love:
“‘I never saw a more promising inclination. He was growing quite inattentive to other people, and wholly engrossed by her. Every time they met, it was more decided and remarkable. 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?‘”
Lizzy to her Aunt Gardiner, attempting to explain just how “violent” Bingley’s affections for Jane are
Pride & Prejudice, volume 2, chapter 2 (emphasis mine)
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
How very obtuse and very ‘Jane.’