I beg your pardon...Excuse my interference. It was kindly meant.
-- Urbane, Snobbish, Arrogant, Accomplished and Sophisticated Ms. Caroline Bingley to Country Beauty Elizabeth Bennet; In Pride and Prejudice
On Private Book Collections
I cannot comprehend the neglect of a family library in such days as these.
-- Mr. Darcy, who is 'always buying books', on his 'delightful library at Pemberley' - 'the work of many generations'; In Pride and Prejudice
On Consequences of Unfettered Freedom
If you, my dear father, will not take the trouble of checking her exuberant spirits, and of teaching her that her present pursuits are not to be the business of her life, she will soon be beyond the reach of amendment.
-- A Concerned and Panicky Elizabeth Bennet to Careless and Irresponsible Mr. Bennet on the Wild Ways of Her Youngest Sister Lydia; In Pride and Prejudice
On Hopelessness
But don't despair, it will pass.
-- Shaken, But Not Chastened, Mr. Bennet to his remaining three daughters after his youngest has eloped with Wickham; In Pride and Prejudice
On the Inconstant Heart
My feelings are so different...In fact they are quite the opposite.
-- Love-Struck Elizabeth Bennet Ruminating on Mr. Darcy whose Proposal She had Earlier Rejected; In Pride and Prejudice
On Girly Tendencies
A girl likes to be crossed in love a little, now and then.
-- Mr. Bennet, Mumbling to his Daughters like a Callous, Insensitive Father - Which He Was; In Pride and Prejudice
On Common Sense
After having much praised or much blamed anybody, one is generally sensible of something just the reverse soon afterwards.
-- Jane Austen in a Letter to her Sister Cassandra
On Country Life
You would find it difficult, I dare say, just now, in the middle of a very late hay harvest, to hire a horse and cart.
-- Good, Righteous Edmund Bertram to Underserving-of-his-Love Ms. Crawford; In Mansfield Park
On Being Uncomfortable
Some minutes passed in this unpleasant silence.
-- Clever (and yet Foolish) Emma Woodhouse in Company With an Angry Mr. Knightley; In Emma
On the Very Portrait of Kitsch
...rich woman of inferior birth.
-- In Persuasion
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
Are you by any chance a subscriber to the C-18 email list? If not, a related, extremely heated, debate, has been raging there for days.
2 - Mayank 'Austen' Singh
Oh. No, I'm not. It sounds intresting though!
3 - Elizabeth Bennett
The first four item would have surely made ol' Jane giggle.
4 - Mayank 'Austen' Singh
Lizzie,
Say my hello to Darcy! And when am I being invited to Pemberley? I promise I won't be snooty like Caroline, nor a thug like Wickham, and of course I won't play it silly like Mr. Collins. I'll be as good and as clean as dear old Charlotte.
Smile
5 - Mr. Real Estate
Very interesting quotes.
6 - Elizabeth Bennett
Well, Mr. Singh, you're welcome to Pemberley! Mr. Collins would be happy to entertain a gentleman from a former colony.
7 - Mayank 'Austen' Singh
But Lizzie, am afraid that being a humble-brown subject of a former colony, Mr. Collins may perhaps be too condencending and haughty towards me. And I will be too scared of Lady Catherine de Borough. Unlike you my courage do not always rises with every attempt to intimidate me! Oh gosh, what to do....
8 - passerby
Pretty clever, but is it contextual?
9 - Mayank 'Austen' Singh
The first three quotes have been taken out of context. Unfortunately.
10 - Mayank 'Austen' Singh
I'm deeply vexed to declare that there was a serious flaw in this my article on Jane Austen.
In a most sinful, ignorant, unpardonable fashion, perhaps spurred by my haste in sending the article for a quick publication, I overlooked a shocking factual inaccuracy.
I had authoritatively declared in my article that the quote 'Interference is permissible, desirable and successful - when it is kindly meant' is the final sentence in Pride and Prejudice. It is not. The concluding sentence is actually: "With the Gardiners, they were always on the most intimate terms. Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them".
I'm devastated by my so elemental and public failure in acquiring complete knowledge of the works of Jane Austen. I offer my apologies knowing fully well that their acceptance will hardly be able console my present distress, disgrace and vexation.