Austen Said:

“but depend upon it, he means to be severe on us, and our surest way of disappointing him, will be to ask nothing about it.”

“I have not the smallest objection to explaining them,”

“You either choose this method of passing the evening because you are in each other's confidence, and have secret affairs to discuss, or because you are conscious that your figures appear to the greatest advantage in walking; if the first, I would be completely in your way, and if the second, I can admire you much better as I sit by the fire.”

“Nothing so easy, if you have but the inclination,”

“We can all plague and punish one another. Tease him — laugh at him. Intimate as you are, you must know how it is to be done.”

“Mr. Darcy is not to be laughed at!”

“That is an uncommon advantage, and uncommon I hope it will continue, for it would be a great loss to me to have many such acquaintances. I dearly love a laugh.”

“Miss Bingley,”

“has given me more credit than can be. The wisest and the best of men — nay, the wisest and best of their actions — may be rendered ridiculous by a person whose first object in life is a joke.”

“Certainly,”

“there are such people, but I hope I am not one of them. 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.”

“Perhaps that is not possible for anyone. But 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.”

“I am perfectly convinced by it that Mr. Darcy has no defect. He owns it himself without disguise.”

“No,”

“I have made no such pretension. I have faults enough, but they are not, I hope, of understanding. My temper I dare not vouch for. It is, I believe, too little yielding — certainly too little for the convenience of the world. I cannot forget the follies and vices of others so soon as I ought, nor their offenses against myself. My feelings are not puffed about with every attempt to move them. My temper would perhaps be called resentful. My good opinion once lost, is lost forever.”

“That is a failing indeed!”

“Implacable resentment is a shade in a character. But you have chosen your fault well. I really cannot laugh at it. You are safe from me.”

“There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil — a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome.”

“And your defect is a propensity to hate everybody.”

“And yours,”

“is willfully to misunderstand them.”

the carriage might be sent for them in the course of the day.

they could not possibly have the carriage before Tuesday;

if Mr. Bingley and his sister pressed them to stay longer, she could spare them very well.

to be particularly careful that no sign of admiration should now escape him, nothing that could elevate her with the hope of influencing his felicity; sensible that if such an idea had been suggested, his behaviour during the last day must have material weight in confirming or crushing it.

at their coming,

very wrong to give so much trouble,

Jane would have caught cold again.

“I hope, my dear,”

“that you have ordered a good dinner to-day, because I have reason to expect an addition to our family party.”

“Who do you mean, my dear? I know of nobody that is coming, I am sure, unless Charlotte Lucas should happen to call in — and I hope my dinners are good enough for her. I do not believe she often sees such at home.”

“The person of whom I speak is a gentleman and a stranger.”

“A gentleman and a stranger! It is Mr. Bingley, I am sure. Why Jane — you never dropt a word of this; you sly thing! Well, I am sure I shall be extremely glad to see Mr. Bingley. But — good Lord! how unlucky! There is not a bit of fish to be got to-day. Lydia, my love, ring the bell — I must speak to Hill this moment.”

“It is not Mr. Bingley,”

“it is a person whom I never saw in the whole course of my life.”

“About a month ago I received this letter; and about a fortnight ago I answered it, for I thought it a case of some delicacy, and requiring early attention. It is from my cousin, Mr. Collins, who, when I am dead, may turn you all out of this house as soon as he pleases.”

“Oh! my dear,”

“I cannot bear to hear that mentioned. Pray do not talk of that odious man. I do think it is the hardest thing in the world, that your estate should be entailed away from your own children; and I am sure, if I had been you, I should have tried long ago to do something or other about it.”

against the cruelty of settling an estate away from a family of five daughters, in favour of a man whom nobody cared anything about.

“It certainly is a most iniquitous affair,”

“and nothing can clear Mr. Collins from the guilt of inheriting Longbourn. But if you will listen to his letter, you may perhaps be a little softened by his manner of expressing himself.”

“No, that I am sure I shall not; and I think it is very impertinent of him to write to you at all, and very hypocritical. I hate such false friends. Why could he not keep on quarreling with you, as his father did before him?”

“Why, indeed; he does seem to have had some filial scruples on that head, as you will hear.”

“At four o'clock, therefore, we may expect this peace-making gentleman,”

“He seems to be a most conscientious and polite young man, upon my word; and I doubt not will prove a valuable acquaintance, especially if Lady Catherine should be so indulgent as to let him come to us again.”

“There is some sense in what he says about the girls however, and if he is disposed to make them any amends, I shall not be the person to discourage him.”

“Though it is difficult,”

“to guess in what way he can mean to make us the atonement he thinks our due, the wish is certainly to his credit.”