Jane Austen - Jane Austens Little Book About Life

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS EUGENE , OREGON Contents JANE AUSTENS LITTLE BOOK ABOUT LIFE Text copyright 2019 by Terry Glaspey Published by Harvest House Publishers Eugene, Oregon 97408 www.harvesthousepublishers.com ISBN 978-0-7369-7675-6 (hardcover) ISBN 978-0-7369-7676-3 (eBook) Cover and interior design by Dugan Design Group All images in this book were found in the British Librarys collections and are believed to be in the public domain. They can be viewed at www.bl.uk. All rights reserved . No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of authors and publishers rights is strictly prohibited.

T HERE ARE PLENTY OF REASONS why so many readers love Jane Austens novels. They tell such wonderful stories and are filled with characters that seem both a bit eccentric and, at the same time, so much like many of the people weve met in the course of our lives and loves. We chuckle and laugh at their misadventures, and we might even grimace a bit at how often they reveal something about the person who stares back at us from our mirrors. Austens stories are simple at heart, and she is painting on a fairly limited canvas. She isnt Tolstoy giving us the grand sweep of an era and its struggles. Instead, Jane Austen writes novels about young ladies and their search for an appropriate life partner.

All the drama is created by the question of who they will or will not choose to marry. Along the way there is also plenty of subtle social commentary about the times in which Austen lived and about the problem that moneyor the lack thereofcreated in the search for true love. And the delightful comedy that accompanies that drama makes her books doubly memorable. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons that true Jane Austen fans cant keep themselves from wanting to revisit these novels regularly are the pearls of wisdom they contain. Words spoken by the narrator or one of the characters that ring true for the readerinsights about love, romance, virtue, decorum, grace, and a hundred more ordinary topics that she views with extraordinary insight and gentle good humor. In this small volume Ive gathered a collection of some of my favorite quotes from one of the most perceptive, witty, and generous writers who ever lived.

Taken together, they provide us with some insight into Jane Austens views about life. They are no substitute, however, for reading the novels, and I hope that perusing some of these wonderful quotes will cause you to clamber up out of your chair and pull one of her novels down off the shelf for a fresh look. Terry Glaspey You are never sure of a good impression being durable. Captain Wentworth in Persuasion

A simple style of dress is so infinitely preferable to finery. But I am quite in the minority, I believe; few people seem to value simplicity of dressshow and finery are everything. Mrs. Mr. Mr.

Knightley on Emma Woodhouse in Emma I T WOULD BE MORTIFYING to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire; how little it is biased by the texture of their muslin, and how unsusceptible of peculiar tenderness towards the spotted, the sprigged, the mull, or the jackonet. Northanger Abbey As for admiration, it was always very welcome when it came, but she did not depend on it. Northanger Abbey

It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before. Persuasion My good opinion once lost, is lost forever. Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice [On being accomplished] A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and, besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved.

Caroline Bingley in Pride and Prejudice There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves. Emma Woodhouse in Emma

A man who has nothing to do with his own time has no conscience in his intrusion on that of others. Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility How quick come the reasons for approving what we like! Persuasion The real evils, indeed, of Emmas situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself. Emma Next page