Chapters 1–5

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife. Chapter 1

‘… but Lizzy has something more of quickness than her sisters.’ (Mr Bennet) Chapter 1

‘… You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion for my poor nerves.’
‘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 last twenty years at least.’ (Mr & Mrs Bennet) Chapter 1

Mr Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve and caprice, that the experience of three-and-twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character. Chapter 1

Her mind was less difficult to develop. She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented, she fancied herself nervous. (about Mrs Bennet) Chapter 1

The business of her [Mrs Bennet] life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news. Chapter 1

‘She is a selfish, hypocritical woman, and I have no opinion of her’. (Mrs Bennet about Mrs Long) Chapter 2

‘…What say you, Mary? For you are a young lady of deep reflection … and read great books and make extracts.’
Mary wished to say something sensible, but knew not how. (Mr Bennet to Mary) Chapter 2

Mr Bingley was good-looking and gentlemanlike; he had a pleasant countenance, and easy, unaffected manners. Chapter 3

Mr Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien [appearance], and the report which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. Chapter 3

His character was decided. He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again. (about Mr Darcy) Chapter 3

She told the story, however, with great spirit among her friends; for she had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous. (Elizabeth on Mr Darcy’s refusal to ask her to dance) Chapter 3

‘… You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in your life.’ (Elizabeth to Jane) Chapter 4

Elizabeth listened in silence, but was not convinced, their behaviour at the assembly had not been calculated to please in general; and with more quickness of observation and less pliancy of temper than her sister, and with a judgement too unassailed by any attention to herself, she was very little disposed to approve them. (Jane talking to Elizabeth about Mrs Hurst and Miss Bingley) Chapter 4

He was at the same time haughty, reserved, and fastidious, and his manners, though well-bred, were not inviting. In that respect his friend had greatly the advantage. Bingley was sure of being liked wherever he appeared, Darcy was continually giving offense. (about Mr Darcy) Chapter 4

That the Miss Lucases and the Miss Bennets should meet to talk over a ball was absolutely necessary … Chapter 5

‘His pride … does not offend me so much as pride often does, because there is an excuse for it. One cannot wonder that so very fine a young man, with family, fortune, everything in his favour, should think highly of himself. If I may so express it, he has a right to be proud.’ (Charlotte Lucas about Mr Darcy) Chapter 5

‘Pride … is a very common failing, I believe. By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed; that human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary.’ (Mary) Chapter 5

‘Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. 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.’ (Mary) Chapter 5

Chapters 6–10

‘Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.’ (Charlotte Lucas) Chapter 6

… Mary, who having, in consequence of being the only plain one in the family, worked hard for knowledge and accomplishments, was always impatient for display. Mary had neither genius nor taste; and though vanity had given her application, it had given her likewise a pedantic air and conceited manner, which would have injured a higher degree of excellence than she had reached. Chapter 6

‘From all that I can collect by your manner of talking, you must be two of the silliest girls in the country. I have suspected it some time, but I am now convinced.’ (Mr Bennet about Kitty and Lydia) Chapter 7

‘But it must very materially lessen their chance of marrying men of any consideration in the world …’ (Mr Darcy, on the low family connections of the Bennet sisters) Chapter 8

‘It is amazing to me … how young ladies can have patience to be so very accomplished as they all are.’ (Mr Bingley) Chapter 8

‘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 world will be but half-deserved.’ (Miss Bingley on the ‘accomplished woman’) Chapter 8

‘All this she must possess … and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading’. (Mr Darcy, adding to Miss Bingley’s assessment of the accomplished woman) Chapter 8

‘I did not know before … that you were a studier of character. It must be an amusing study.’
‘Yes, but intricate characters are the most amusing. They have at least that advantage.’ (Mr Bingley to Elizabeth) Chapter 9

‘The country … can in general supply but a few subjects for such a study. In a country neighbourhood you move in a very confined and unvarying society.’ (Mr Darcy, assuming rural people are all the same) Chapter 9

Lydia was a stout, well-grown girl of fifteen, with a fine complexion and good-humoured countenance; a favourite with her mother, whose affection had brought her into public at an early age. Chapter 9

‘You appear to me, Mr Darcy, to allow nothing for the influence of friendship and affection. A regard for the requester would often make one readily yield to a request, without waiting for arguments to reason one into it.’ (Elizabeth) Chapter 10

Elizabeth, having rather expected to affront him, was amazed at his gallantry; but there was a mixture of sweetness and archness in her manner which made it difficult for her to affront anybody; and Darcy had never been so bewitched by any women as he was by her. (When Elizabeth rejects Mr Darcy’s offer to dance) Chapter 10

‘I hope … you will give your mother-in-law a few hints … as to the advantage of holding her tongue; and if you can compass it, do sure the younger girls of running after officers …’
‘Have you anything else to propose for my domestic felicity?’
‘Oh! yes. Do let the portraits of your uncle and aunt Phillips get placed in the gallery at Pemberley. Put them next to your great-uncle the judge. They are in the same profession, you know, only in different lines.’ (Miss Bingley teasing about Mr Darcy marrying into Elizabeth’s family) Chapter 10

Chapters 11–15

‘I hope I never ridicule what is wise and good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies, do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can. But these, I suppose, are precisely what you are without.’ (Elizabeth to Mr Darcy) Chapter 11

‘.. it has been the study of my life to avoid those weaknesses which often expose a strong understanding to ridicule.’
‘Such as vanity and pride.’
‘Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride – where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation.’ (Darcy to Elizabeth) Chapter 11

He began to feel the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention. (Mr Darcy, starting to having feelings for Elizabeth) Chapter 11

‘He must be an oddity, I think. … I cannot make him out. There is something very pompous in his style. And what can he mean by apologising for being next in the entail? We cannot suppose he would help it if he could…’ (Elizabeth about Mr Collins) Chapter 13

His cousin was as absurd as he had hoped, and he listened to him with the keenest enjoyment, maintaining at the same time the most resolute composure of countenance, and, except in an occasional glance at Elizabeth, requiring no partner in his pleasure. (Mr Bennet on Mr Collins) Chapter 14

…the young man wanted only regimentals to make him completely charming. His appearance was greatly in his favour; he had all the best part of beauty, a fine countenance, a good figure, and very pleasing address. … a happy readiness of conversation— a readiness at the same time perfectly correct and unassuming… (Wickham) Chapter 15

Mrs. Phillips was always glad to see her nieces … Chapter 15

Chapters 16–20

‘I have no right to give my opinion … as to his being agreeable or otherwise. I am not qualified to form one. I have known him too long and too well to be a fair judge. It is impossible for me to be impartial.’ (Wickham to Elizabeth about Mr Darcy) Chapter 16

‘Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion…’ (Jane to Elizabeth, when she refuses to think negatively of Mr Darcy based on Wickham’s story) Chapter 17

‘My dear Miss Elizabeth, I have the highest opinion in the world in your excellent judgement in all matters within the scope of your understanding; but … there must be a wide difference between the established forms of ceremony amongst the laity, and those which regulate the clergy; … I consider the clerical office as equal in point of dignity with the highest rank in the kingdom…’ (Mr Collins, defending his decision to introduce himself to Mr Darcy) Chapter 18

‘Heaven forbid! That would be the greatest misfortune of all! To find a man agreeable whom on is determined to hate! Do not wish me such an evil.’ (Elizabeth to Charlotte about Mr Darcy) Chapter 18

‘We are each of an unsocial, taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room, and be handed down to posterity with all the eclat of a proverb.’ (Elizabeth to Mr Darcy) Chapter 18

‘Wickham is blessed with such happy manners as may ensure his making friends— whether he may be equally capable of retaining them, is less certain.’ (Mr Darcy to Elizabeth) Chapter 18

‘Your portion is unhappily so small that it will in all likelihood undo the effects of your loveliness and amiable qualifications. As I must therefore conclude that you are not serious in your rejection of me, I shall choose to attribute it to your wish of increasing my love by suspense, according to the usual practice of elegant females.’ (Mr Collins’ proposal to Elizabeth) Chapter 19

‘Do not consider me now as an elegant female, intending to plague you, but as a rational creature, speaking the truth from her heart.’ (Elizabeth turning down Mr Collins’s marriage proposal) Chapter 19

‘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

Chapters 21–25

‘But the case is this: We are not rich enough or grand enough for them; and she is the more anxious to get Miss Darcy for her brother, from the notion that when there has been one intermarriage, she may have less trouble in achieving a second: in which there is certainly some ingenuity, and I dare say it would succeed, if Miss de Bourgh were out of the way.’ (Elizabeth to Jane, about Miss Bingley) Chapter 21

Mr Collins, to be sure, was neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still he would be her husband. Without thinking highly either of men or matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want. (Charlotte) Chapter 22

The sight of Miss Lucas was odious to her. As her successor in that house, she regarded her with jealous abhorrence. (Mrs Bennet) Chapter 23

‘I never saw a more promising inclination; he was growing quite inattentive to other people, and wholly engrossed by her. Every time they met, it was more decided and remarkable. At his own ball he offended two or three young ladies, by not asking them to dance; and I spoke to him twice myself, without receiving an answer. Could there be finer symptoms? Is not general incivility the very essence of love?’ (Elizabeth to Mrs Gardiner about Mr Bingley’s love for Jane) Chapter 25

‘Poor Jane! I am sorry for her, because, with her disposition, she may not get over it immediately. It had better have happened to you, Lizzy; you would have laughed yourself out of it sooner.’ (Mrs Gardiner to Elizabeth) Chapter 25

Chapters 26–30

‘…handsome young men must have something to live on as well as the plain.’ (Elizabeth to Mrs Gardiner, about Wickham) Chapter 26

‘What are young men to rocks and mountains? Oh! what hours of transport we shall spend! And when we do return … We will know where we have gone— we will recollect what we have seen. Lakes, mountains, and rivers shall not be jumbled together in our imaginations; nor when we attempt to describe any particular scene, will we begin quarreling about its relative situation.’ (Elizabeth to Mrs Gardiner) Chapter 27

‘Lady Catherine will not think the worse of you for being simply dressed. She likes to have the distinction of rank preserved.’ (Mr Collins to Elizabeth) Chapter 29

Her air was not conciliating, nor was her manner of receiving them such as to make her visitors forget their inferior rank. (Lady Catherine) Chapter 29

Elizabeth found that nothing was beneath this great lady’s attention, which could furnish her with an occasion of dictating to others. (Lady Catherine) Chapter 29

‘Are any of your younger sisters out, Miss Bennet?’
‘Yes, ma’am, all.’
‘All! What, all five out at once? Very odd! And you only the second. The younger ones out before the elder ones are married!’ (Lady Catherine to Elizabeth) Chapter 29

Her favourite walk, and where she frequently went while the others were calling on Lady Catherine, was along the open grove which edged that side of the park, where there was a nice sheltered path, which no one seemed to value but herself, and where she felt beyond the reach of Lady Catherine’s curiosity. (Elizabeth) Chapter 30

Chapters 31–35

‘…I have had the pleasure of your acquaintance long enough to know that you find great enjoyment in occasionally professing opinions which in fact are not your own.’ (Mr Darcy to Elizabeth) Chapter 31

More than once did Elizabeth, in her ramble within the park, unexpectedly meet Mr Darcy. Chapter 33

‘In vain I have 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 to Elizabeth) Chapter 34

‘I might as well inquire … why with so evident a desire of offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character? Was not this some excuse for incivility, if I was uncivil?’ (Elizabeth to Mr Darcy) Chapter 34

Chapters 36–40

With a strong prejudice against everything he might say, she began his account of what had happened at Netherfield. (Elizabeth, reading Mr Darcy’s letter) Chapter 36

She remembered that he had boasted of having no fear of seeing Mr Darcy— that Mr Darcy might leave the country, but that he should stand his ground; yet he had avoided the Netherfield ball the very next week. (Elizabeth, about Wickham) Chapter 36

…he had then no reserves, no scruples in sinking Mr Darcy’s character, though he had assured her that respect for the father would always prevent his exposing the son. (Elizabeth, about Wickham) Chapter 36

Reflection must be reserved for solitary hours; whenever she was alone, she gave way to it as the greatest relief; and not a day went by without a solitary walk, in which she might indulge in all the delight of unpleasant recollections. (Elizabeth) Chapter 37

Mr Darcy’s letter she was in a fair way of soon knowing by heart. She studied every sentence; and her feelings towards its writer were at times widely different. (Elizabeth) Chapter 37

Her father, contented with laughing at them, would never exert himself to restrain the wild giddiness of his youngest daughters; and her mother, with manners so far from right herself, was entirely insensible of the evil. Chapter 37

Elizabeth had frequently united with Jane in an endeavour to check the imprudence of Catherine and Lydia; but while they were supported by their mother’s indulgence, what chance could there be of improvement? Chapter 37

Catherine, weak-spirited, irritable, and completely under Lydia’s guidance, had been always affronted by their advice; Lydia, self-willed and careless, would scarcely give them a hearing. Chapter 37

They were ignorant, idle, and vain. While there was an officer in Meryton, they would flirt with him; and while Meryton was within a walk of Longbourn, they would be going there forever. (Lydia and Kitty) Chapter 37

How grievous then was the thought that, of a situation so desirable in every respect, so replete with advantage, so promising for happiness, Jane had been deprived, by the folly and indecorum of her own family! Chapter 37

In her own past behaviour, there was a constant source of vexation and regret; and in the unhappy defects of her family, a constant source of vexation and regret; … (Elizabeth) Chapter 37

Poor Charlotte! it was melancholy to leave her to such society! But she had chosen it with her eyes open; and though evidently regretting that her visitors were to go, she did not seem to ask for compassion. Her home and her housekeeping, her parish and her poultry, and all their dependent concerns, had not yet lost their charms. (Elizabeth) Chapter 38

‘How unfortunate that you should have used such very strong expressions in speaking of Wickham to Mr Darcy, for now they do appear wholly undeserved.’
‘Certainly. But the misfortune of speaking with bitterness is a most natural consequence of the prejudices I had been encouraging.’ (Jane to Elizabeth) Chapter 40

Chapters 41–45

‘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.’ (Elizabeth about Lydia) Chapter 41

But she had never felt so strongly as now the disadvantages which must attend the children of so unsuitable a marriage, nor ever been so fully aware of the evils arising from so ill-judged a direction of talents; talents, which, rightly used, might at least have preserved the respectability of his daughters, even if incapable of enlarging the mind of his wife. (Elizabeth, about her parents) Chapter 42

It was a large, handsome stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills; and in front, a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks were neither formal nor falsely adorned. Elizabeth was delighted. (about Pemberley) Chapter 43

The rooms were lofty and handsome, and their furniture suitable to the fortune of its proprietor; but Elizabeth saw, with admiration of his taste, that it was neither gaudy nor uselessly fine; with less of splendour, and more real elegance, than the furniture of Rosings. (about Pemberley) Chapter 43

There was certainly at this moment, in Elizabeth’s mind, a more gentle sensation towards the original than she had ever felt at the height of their acquaintance. (Elizabeth at Pemberley, revising her opinion about Mr Darcy) Chapter 43

His wish of introducing his sister to her was a compliment of the highest kind. (Elizabeth about Mr Darcy) Chapter 43

… she had heard that Miss Darcy was exceedingly proud; but the observation of a very few minutes convinced her that she was only exceedingly shy. (Elizabeth, on Miss Darcy) Chapter 44

Miss Darcy looked as if she wished for courage enough to join in it; and sometimes did venture a short sentence when there was least danger of its being heard. Chapter 45

Chapters 46–50

‘When my eyes were opened to his real character— Oh! had I known what I ought, what I dared to do! But I knew not— I was afraid of doing too much. Wretched, wretched mistake!’ (Elizabeth to Mr Darcy about Wickham) Chapter 46

‘…loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable; that one false step involves her in endless ruin; that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful; and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex.’ (Mary to Elizabeth, about Lydia) Chapter 47

Mrs Gardiner and the children were to remain in Hertfordshire a few days longer, as the former thought her presence might be serviceable to her nieces. She shared in their attendance on Mrs. Bennet, and was a great comfort to them in their hours of freedom. (after Lydia has run away with Wickham) Chapter 48

Their other aunt also visited them frequently, and always, as she said, with the design of cheering and heartening them up— though, as she never came without reporting some fresh instance of Wickham’s extravagance or irregularity, she seldom went away without leaving them more dispirited than she found them. (about Mrs Phillips, after Lydia has run away with Wickham) Chapter 48

Everybody declared that he was the wickedest young man in the world; and everybody began to find out that they had always distrusted the appearance of his goodness. (about Wickham) Chapter 48

‘No, Kitty, I have at last learnt to be cautious, and you will feel the effects of it. No officer is ever to enter into my house again, nor even to pass through the village.’ (Mr Bennet) Chapter 48

The kindness of my uncle and aunt can never be requited. Their taking her home, and affording her their personal protection and countenance, is such a sacrifice to her advantage as years of gratitude cannot enough acknowledge. (Elizabeth and Jane, about the Gardiners) Chapter 49

It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both: by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved; and from his judgement, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance. (about Elizabeth and Mr Darcy) Chapter 50

But how little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue … (Elizabeth, about Lydia and Wickham) Chapter 50

Chapters 51–55

Mr Darcy had been at her sister’s wedding. It was exactly a scene, and exactly among people, where he had apparently least to do, and least temptation to go. Conjectures as to the meaning of it, rapid and wild, hurried into her brain; but she was satisfied with none. (Elizabeth) Chapter 51

He generously imputed the whole to his mistaken pride, and confessed that he had before thought it beneath him to lay his private actions open to the world. (excerpt from Mrs Gardiner’s letter to Elizabeth, about Mr Darcy’s remorse for not making known his dealings with Wickham, in light of his running away with Lydia) Chapter 52

He looked serious, as usual; and, she thought, more as he had been used to look in Hertfordshire, than as she had seen him at Pemberley. But, perhaps he could not in her mother’s presence be what he was before her uncle and aunt. (Elizabeth about Mr Darcy) Chapter 53

The Bennets were speedily pronounced to be the luckiest family in the world, though only a few weeks before, when Lydia had first run away, they had been generally proved to be marked out for misfortune. (on Jane’s marriage to Mr Bingley) Chapter 55

Chapters 56–61

‘You have a very small park here’ …
‘It is nothing in comparison of Rosings, my lady, I dare say; but I assure you it is much larger than Sir William Lucas’s.’ (Lady Catherine and Mrs Bennet) Chapter 56

My daughter and my nephew are formed for each other. They are descended, on the maternal side, from the same noble line; and, on the father’s, from respectable, honourable, and ancient — though untitled — families. Their fortune on both sides is splendid. (Lady Catherine to Elizabeth about Mr Darcy and Miss de Bourgh) Chapter 56

‘I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.’ (Elizabeth to Lady Catherine) Chapter 56

‘It taught me to hope … as I had scarcely ever allowed myself to hope before. I knew enough of your disposition to be certain that, had you been absolutely, irrevocably decided against me, you would have acknowledged it to Lady Catherine, frankly and openly.’ (Mr Darcy to Elizabeth) Chapter 58

Elizabeth coloured and laughed as she replied, ‘Yes, you know enough of my frankness to believe me capable of that. After abusing you so abominably to your face, I could have no scruple in abusing you to all your relations.’ (to Mr Darcy) Chapter 58

‘You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You shewed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.’ (Mr Darcy to Elizabeth) Chapter 58

‘I know your disposition, Lizzy. I know that you could be neither happy nor respectable, unless you truly esteemed your husband; unless you looked up to him as a superior. Your lively talents would place you in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage. You could scarcely escape discredit and misery.’ (Mr Bennet) Chapter 59

‘The fact is, that you were sick of civility, of deference, of officious attention. You were disgusted with the women who were always speaking, and looking, and thinking for your approbation alone. I roused, and interested you, because I was so unlike them.’ (Elizabeth to Mr Darcy) Chapter 60

Miss Bingley was very deeply mortified by Darcy’s marriage; but as she thought it advisable to retain the right of visiting at Pemberley, she dropt all her resentment; was fonder than ever of Georgiana, almost as attentive to Darcy as heretofore, and paid off every arrear of civility to Elizabeth. Chapter 61