Born in December 1775 in Hampshire, England, Jane Austen was a renowned English writer known for her distinctive literary writing style that combined parody, free speech, iron, burlesque, and realism. Most of her books used parody and caricature to critique the treatment of women in the 18th century.
Her work has inspired many essays, literary collections, and movies including Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Love and Friendship among others. All her writings are full of powerful quotes that continue to inspire generations. In this article, I have listed 33 memorable Jane Austen quotes to help you find happiness.
33 Memorable Jane Austen quotes to help you find happiness
Jane Austen Quotes to Inspire You to Pursue Your Own Pleasures
#1. “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
#2. “I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way.”
#3. “One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.”
#4. “Why not seize the pleasure at once? —How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!”
#5. “There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere.”
#6. “If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad.”
Jane Austen Quotes to Inspire You to Love and Accept Yourself
#7. “I must learn to be content with being happier than I deserve.”
#8. “One man’s ways may be as good as another’s, but we all like our own best.”
#9. “Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion.”
#10. “You must be the best judge of your own happiness.”
#11. “We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.”
#12. “I never could be so happy as you. Till I have your disposition, your goodness, I never can have your happiness.”
#13. “A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”
#14. “It is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us.”
#15. “Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.”
#16. “Think only of the past as its remembrance give you pleasure.”
#17. “I could not sit seriously down to write a serious romance under any other motive than to save my life; and if it were indispensable for me to keep it up and never relax into laughing at myself or other people, I am sure I should be hung before I had finished the first chapter. No, I must keep to my own style and go on in my own way; and though I may never succeed again in that, I am convinced that I should totally fail in any other.”
Jane Austen Quotes to Teach You How to Handle People and Disappointments
#18. “Selfishness must always be forgiven you know because there is no hope of a cure.”
#19. “There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.”
#20. “There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.”
#21. “It is well to have as many holds upon happiness as possible.”
#22. “When you know how much you are worth; you will stop giving people discounts.”
#23. “But how little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue, she could easily conjecture.”
#24. “You are in a melancholy humour and fancy that anyone unlike yourself must be happy. But remember that the pain of parting from friends will be felt by everybody at times, whatever be their education or state. Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience; or give it a more fascinating name: call it hope.”
#25. “It is a sort of pain, too, which is new to me. I have been used to the gratification of believing myself to earn every blessing that I enjoyed. I have valued myself on honourable toils and just rewards. Like other great men under reverses, I must endeavor to subdue my mind to my fortune. I must learn to brook being happier than I deserve.”
#26. “I always deserve the best treatment because I put up with none other.”
#27. “Your competence and my wealth are very much alike, I dare say; and without them, as the world goes now, we shall both agree that every kind of external comfort must be wanting. Your ideas are only more noble than mine. Come, what is your competence?”
Jane Austen Quotes About Finding Happiness in Money and Wealth
#29. “A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.”
#30. “What have wealth or grandeur to do with happiness?” “Grandeur has but little,” said Elinor, “but wealth has much to do with it.”
#31. “Money can only give happiness where there is nothing else to give it.”
#32. “Where people are really attached, poverty itself is wealth.”
#33. “A single woman with a narrow income must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid, the proper sport of boys and girls, but a single woman of fortune is always respectable, and maybe as sensible and pleasant as anybody else.”
Final Thoughts
From the above list, we can all agree that Jane Austen quotes are full of wisdom and inspiration. Her literary work displays strength, passion, and bravery. That’s why her passion for what she did and believed in serves as an inspiration to readers, especially women. By reading these quotes regularly, you will get the motivation to pursue your own happiness.
Image source: Jane Austen photo from pinterest.com
