Jane Austen · 1813
Pride and Prejudice quotes
The best lines, word for word, with the chapter and the scene
These Pride and Prejudice quotes are copied word for word from Jane Austen’s novel and checked against the text, each with who says it, the chapter and what is happening at the time, from the famous first line to Mr Darcy’s two proposals.
The ten most famous Pride and Prejudice quotes
| Quote | Who | Chapter |
|---|---|---|
| “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” | The narrator | 1 |
| “She is tolerable: but not handsome enough to tempt me.” | Mr Darcy | 3 |
| “I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.” | Elizabeth | 5 |
| “My good opinion once lost is lost for ever.” | Mr Darcy | 11 |
| “My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.” | Elizabeth | 31 |
| “In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” | Mr Darcy | 34 |
| “I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.” | Elizabeth | 34 |
| “Till this moment, I never knew myself.” | Elizabeth | 36 |
| “For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?” | Mr Bennet | 57 |
| “I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.” | Mr Darcy | 60 |
“It is a truth universally acknowledged”: the first line
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
It is the most famous opening line in English fiction, and it means the opposite of what it says. The “truth” is not acknowledged by single men at all: it is what every family with unmarried daughters wants to believe about them. The next sentence gives the game away: such a man is “considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters”. Within a paragraph Mrs Bennet is proving it, with Mr Bingley.
The first edition of 1813 prints a comma after “fortune”. Many modern editions, including some online texts, leave it out. Both are the same sentence.
Love quotes from Pride and Prejudice
“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
Said at Hunsford parsonage, followed at once by an account of how much it has cost him to love a woman of her family. She refuses him.
“You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged; but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever.”
“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”
“I am certainly the most fortunate creature that ever existed!”
Darcy also calls her “dearest, loveliest Elizabeth” in chapter 58, the only time he says her name with an endearment. More about the pair in our guides to Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet.
Elizabeth Bennet’s wittiest lines
“There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.”
- “I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.” On Darcy’s slight, chapter 5.
- “Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies, do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.” To Darcy at Netherfield, chapter 11.
- “I dearly love a laugh.” Chapter 11.
- “You could not make me happy, and I am convinced that I am the last woman in the world who would make you so.” Refusing Mr Collins, chapter 19.
- “One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.” To Jane, about Darcy, chapter 40.
- “He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are equal.” To Lady Catherine, chapter 56.
Mr Darcy quotes
- “She is tolerable: but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men.” At the Meryton assembly, chapter 3.
- “I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow.” To Caroline Bingley, chapter 6.
- “Vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride—where there is a real superiority of mind—pride will be always under good regulation.” To Elizabeth, who has to turn away to hide a smile, chapter 11.
- “My good opinion once lost is lost for ever.” Chapter 11.
- “I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle.” Chapter 58.
Mr Darcy’s letter
The letter he hands Elizabeth the morning after she refuses him (chapter 35) begins with a famous piece of wounded dignity:
“Be not alarmed, Madam, on receiving this letter, by the apprehension of its containing any repetition of those sentiments, or renewal of those offers, which were last night so disgusting to you.”
It goes on to explain why he parted Bingley from Jane and to tell the true story of Wickham. It is signed simply “FITZWILLIAM DARCY”.
Mr and Mrs Bennet’s funniest lines
“You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least.”
- “You have no compassion on my poor nerves.” Mrs Bennet, chapter 1.
- “Oh, single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!” Mrs Bennet on Mr Bingley, chapter 1.
- “I wonder who first discovered the efficacy of poetry in driving away love!” Elizabeth, chapter 9.
- “That will do extremely well, child. You have delighted us long enough.” Mr Bennet stopping Mary at the piano, chapter 18.
- “An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.” Mr Bennet, chapter 20.
- “For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?” Mr Bennet, chapter 57.
Mr Collins, Lady Catherine and the rest
“I am not now to learn… that it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favour.”
- “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.” Charlotte Lucas, chapter 6, explaining in advance why she will accept Mr Collins.
- “Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously.” Mary Bennet, chapter 5.
- “I declare, after all, there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book!” Caroline Bingley, chapter 11, who has chosen her book only because it is the second volume of Darcy’s.
- “I am not to be trifled with.” Lady Catherine de Bourgh to Elizabeth, chapter 56.
Pride and Prejudice “quotes” that are not in the novel
Some of the most shared lines online are not by Jane Austen at all, or have been changed. If you are quoting the novel in a card, a speech or an essay, check these:
| Often quoted | In the novel? | What Austen wrote |
|---|---|---|
| “You have bewitched me, body and soul.” | No | The narrator says, in chapter 10, that “Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her”. Darcy never says the line. |
| “I love you. Most ardently.” | No | “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you” (chapter 34). |
| “Dearest, loveliest Elizabeth.” | Yes | Darcy, in chapter 58: “but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth!” |
| “It is a truth universally acknowledged…” | Yes | The opening sentence of chapter 1. |
Four questions
Whose lines are yours?
Four questions from the novel. Find your match, then sit for their portrait.
- The same quiz as in the app
- Every result has its portrait waiting
- Share it and dare a friend to find their match
Question 1 of 4
At a ball, you…
- Dance every single dance
- Stand apart and judge the company
- Make sure the grandest person there knows you
- Look after whoever has been left out
- Hope one particular person notices you
Your questions
Questions about the quotes
Anything else? Write to us at [email protected].
What is the most famous quote from Pride and Prejudice?
The first line: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
What does “It is a truth universally acknowledged” mean?
It is ironic. The “truth” is really what families with daughters want to believe: that any rich single man who arrives in the neighbourhood must be looking for a wife, and so belongs to one of their girls.
What is Mr Darcy’s most famous line?
“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you” (chapter 34).
Does Mr Darcy say “You have bewitched me, body and soul” in the book?
No. That line is not in the novel. The word appears once, in chapter 10, when the narrator says “Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her”.
How does Mr Darcy’s letter begin?
“Be not alarmed, Madam, on receiving this letter, by the apprehension of its containing any repetition of those sentiments, or renewal of those offers, which were last night so disgusting to you” (chapter 35).
Who says “My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me”?
Elizabeth Bennet, to Mr Darcy, while playing the pianoforte at Rosings in chapter 31.
Keep reading
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Mr Darcy
Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley, the hero of Pride and Prejudice
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Elizabeth Bennet
The quick, laughing heroine of Pride and Prejudice
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Jane Austen biography
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Pride and Prejudice characters
Who’s who, from Elizabeth Bennet to Mr Collins
For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?
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