I love reading Jane Austen for the beauty of her dialogue and the insight she gives her characters. I find her words soothing, perceptive, funny, and infuriating all at the same time! If you haven't read Sense and Sensibility in a while (or ever), here are six quotes to lure you to open it back up...
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A quote that sets the stage for the entire book--referring to the 3 daughters (Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret) and their mother (Mrs. Dashwood) after the unexpected death of Mr. Dashwood...
Fanny: They're all exceedingly spoilt, I find. Miss Margaret spends all her time up trees and under furniture. I've barely had a civil word from Marianne.
Edward Ferrars: My dear Fanny, they've just lost their father. Their lives will never be the same again.
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A succinct summary of the elder daughter Elinor's situation with a deceased father and no husband, which encapsulates women's financial situation in general in 19th century England...
Elinor Dashwood: You talk of feeling idle and useless. Imagine how that is compounded when one has no hope and no choice of any occupation whatsoever.
Edward Ferrars: Our circumstances are therefore precisely the same.
Elinor Dashwood: Except that you will inherit your fortune. We cannot even earn ours.
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Throughout the book, Jane Austen explores the juxtaposition of sense (logic) and sensibility (emotion) in her characters...
Colonel Brandon: Your sister seems very happy.
Elinor Dashwood: Yes. Marianne does not approve of hiding her emotions. In fact, her romantic prejudices have the unfortunate tendency to set propriety at naught.
Colonel Brandon: She is wholly unspoilt.
Elinor Dashwood: Rather too unspoilt, in my view. The sooner she becomes acquainted with the ways of the world, the better.
Colonel Brandon: I knew a lady very like your sister - the same impulsive sweetness of temper - who was forced into, as you put it, a better acquaintance with the world. The result was only ruination and despair. Do not desire it, Miss Dashwood.
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Just when you want to dislike Marianne for her emotional impetuosity and self-absorption, she shares this with her sister and you have to change your whole view of her...
Elinor Dashwood: Do you compare your conduct with his?
Marianne: No, I compare it with what it ought to have been. I compare it with yours.
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The importance of self-talk in every century! Here Elinor tries to convince herself that she can handle the impending situation...
Elinor Dashwood: “I WILL be calm; I WILL be mistress of myself.”
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No explanation needed for the beauty of this quote...
Edward Ferrars: I-I've come here with no expectations, only to profess, now that I am at liberty to do so, that my heart is, and always will be, yours.
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