Few novels have remained as quotable as Pride and Prejudice. More than two centuries after Jane Austen published it, the book still gives us sharp observations about love, pride, marriage, first impressions, and the strange things people do when feelings get involved.
These Pride and Prejudice quotes bring together the lines readers return to most, from Mr Darcy’s famously awkward declarations to Elizabeth Bennet’s wit and Austen’s dry commentary on society. Some are romantic, some are funny, and a few are painfully accurate even now.
Table of Contents
Best Pride and Prejudice Quotes About Love
Austen is not especially sentimental about romance. Love in Pride and Prejudice comes with pride, misunderstanding, social pressure, and enough poor communication to keep the plot moving for several hundred pages.
Still, when her characters finally speak honestly, the result is memorable.
1. Darcy Finally Says It
You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.
Mr Darcy
Darcy’s first proposal contains one of literature’s most famous love confessions. Unfortunately for him, the rest of the proposal goes considerably less smoothly.
2. Feelings Win Eventually
In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed.
Mr Darcy
Darcy has tried to reason himself out of loving Elizabeth because of her family and social position. His feelings refuse to cooperate, which is romantic until he starts explaining all his objections out loud.
3. Love Arrives Quietly
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.
Mr Darcy
Darcy cannot identify the exact moment he fell for Elizabeth. His answer captures a quieter kind of love, the sort that grows gradually until you suddenly realize it has been there all along.
The full novel is available through the Project Gutenberg edition of Pride and Prejudice.
4. Love Without Pressure
My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever.
Mr Darcy
Darcy’s second proposal shows how much he has changed. His feelings remain the same, but this time Elizabeth’s choice matters more than his expectation of being accepted.
5. Elizabeth Comes First
If you will thank me, let it be for yourself alone.
Mr Darcy
After helping resolve Lydia and Wickham’s scandal, Darcy does not use the gesture to pressure Elizabeth. He makes it clear that his actions came from love, not from expecting a reward.
6. Affection Needs Encouragement
There are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement.
Charlotte Lucas
Charlotte approaches romance more practically than Elizabeth does.
Her point is not especially dreamy, but it is observant: many people need some sign that their feelings might be returned before risking their pride.
7. Marriage Is a Gamble
Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.
Charlotte Lucas
Charlotte’s view of marriage is far less romantic than Elizabeth’s. In her world, financial security and social stability matter enormously, which helps explain why she later makes a choice Elizabeth struggles to understand.
For more literary love lines that survived long after their original romances ended, explore these romantic quotes from classic literature.
Witty Quotes from Pride and Prejudice
Austen’s humor is one reason the novel still feels lively rather than preserved behind glass. Her characters insult each other politely, misunderstand themselves beautifully, and occasionally say something so sharp it could survive perfectly well in a modern group chat.
8. The Opening Everyone Knows
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
Narrator
The first sentence tells us exactly what kind of book we are reading. Austen is not stating a fact about wealthy bachelors. She is teasing a society already planning their marriages for them.
9. Elizabeth’s Wounded Pride
I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.
Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth is honest enough to admit that Darcy’s arrogance annoys her partly because it is personal. Pride is not only his problem in this novel.
10. Elizabeth Loves a Laugh
I dearly love a laugh.
Elizabeth Bennet
Three words explain a great deal about Elizabeth. She enjoys noticing human absurdity and refuses to treat every social rule with the seriousness other people expect.
11. Mr Bennet Has Enough
You have delighted us long enough.
Mr Bennet
Mr. Bennet’s dry dismissal remains one of the most efficient conversation endings in the novel. Mr. Collins has, naturally, failed to notice that his audience stopped being delighted some time ago.
12. Lady Catherine Is Horrified
Obstinate, headstrong girl!
Lady Catherine de Bourgh
Lady Catherine intends this as an insult. For readers who admire Elizabeth’s refusal to be intimidated, it sounds suspiciously close to a compliment.
13. Society Needs Entertainment
For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?
Mr Bennet
Mr. Bennet treats human foolishness as a renewable source of entertainment. It is funny, although Austen also shows that laughing from the sidelines is not always the same as taking responsibility.
14. Anger Is Not Wisdom
Angry people are not always wise.
Narrator
Short, sharp, and still useful. Austen makes the observation while Caroline Bingley is trying to provoke Darcy, proving that resentment rarely improves anyone’s judgment.
Memorable Mr. Darcy Quotes
From guarded pride to heartfelt love, these quotes by Mr. Darcy show his transformation into Austen’s iconic romantic hero.
He begins certain of his own judgment and ends far more aware of how privilege, pride, and poor behavior shaped the way Elizabeth saw him.
15. His Opinion Stays Lost
My good opinion once lost is lost for ever.
Mr Darcy
Early Darcy treats judgment as something final. The irony is hard to miss because the novel depends on both Darcy and Elizabeth learning that first opinions can be very wrong.
16. Confident in His Judgment
I have faults enough, but they are not, I hope, of understanding.
Mr Darcy
Darcy knows he has flaws. What he does not yet question is his ability to judge people correctly, which becomes one of the weaknesses Elizabeth eventually exposes.
17. Social Skills Are Hard
I am ill-qualified to recommend myself to strangers.
Mr Darcy
This line complicates the idea that Darcy is simply rude. He can be arrogant, certainly, but he is also uncomfortable in unfamiliar social situations and knows he does not make an easy first impression.
18. He Faces His Selfishness
I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle.
Mr Darcy
Darcy finally recognizes that having good principles is not enough if his behavior does not reflect them. It is one of his strongest moments of self-awareness.
19. Pride Had Deep Roots
I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit.
Mr Darcy
Darcy understands how privilege shaped him without pretending it excuses him. That distinction is central to why his character growth feels convincing.
20. Elizabeth Changed His Thinking
You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous.
Mr Darcy
Elizabeth’s rejection hurts, but Darcy eventually listens to the reasons behind it. His appeal does not come from secretly being perfect all along. It comes from being capable of change.
21. Properly Humbled at Last
By you, I was properly humbled.
Mr Darcy
For a man introduced as painfully proud, this admission marks a long journey. Darcy remains recognizably himself, but he is no longer convinced that status makes his judgment automatically superior.
Iconic Elizabeth Bennet Quotes
Elizabeth is witty enough to spot everyone else’s flaws and human enough to miss some of her own. That balance makes her one of Austen’s most enduring heroines.
Her strongest lines show independence, humor, self-respect, and eventually the willingness to admit she has misjudged someone.
22. Impossible Standards for Women
I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any.
Elizabeth Bennet
Darcy and Caroline describe an almost absurd list of qualities an “accomplished” woman should possess. Elizabeth immediately spots how unrealistic the standard is.
23. Choosing Her Own Happiness
I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness.
Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth refuses to let Lady Catherine decide whom she may marry. Her independence is not rebellion for its own sake. She simply believes her future belongs to her.
24. Speaking as an Equal
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 Bennet
Elizabeth says this to Mr. Collins when he refuses to take her rejection seriously. She insists on being heard as a person capable of knowing her own mind.
25. Refusing to Be Intimidated
There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others.
Elizabeth Bennet)
Elizabeth’s stubbornness occasionally causes problems, but it also protects her. Wealth, rank, and social pressure do not automatically earn her obedience.
26. Equal Where It Matters
He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are equal.
Elizabeth Bennet
Lady Catherine expects Elizabeth to accept that Darcy belongs to a higher social world. Elizabeth rejects the premise completely and refuses to treat herself as inherently beneath him.
27. A Painful Self-Discovery
Till this moment, I never knew myself.
Elizabeth Bennet
Darcy’s letter forces Elizabeth to reconsider her confidence in her own judgment. Few lines capture the novel’s theme of self-knowledge more clearly.
28. Vanity Fooled Her
Vanity, not love, has been my folly.
Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth realizes Wickham pleased her because he liked her, while Darcy offended her because he did not. Austen lets her heroine be clever without making her immune to flattery.
Pride and Prejudice Quotes on Life and Society
The romance may be what draws many readers in, but Austen is equally interested in status, reputation, judgment, friendship, and marriage.
These Pride and Prejudice quotes show why the novel remains more than a love story.
29. Pride and Vanity Differ
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 Bennet
Mary may deliver the observation with her usual seriousness, but the distinction is useful. Pride and vanity overlap throughout the novel, yet Austen repeatedly shows they are not quite the same thing.
30. Think Before Digging In
It is particularly incumbent on those who never change their opinion, to be secure of judging properly at first.
Elizabeth Bennet
A very elegant way of saying that stubborn confidence requires excellent judgment. Unfortunately, most people are far more certain than accurate.
31. Remember What Brings Pleasure
Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.
Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth does not mean that painful experiences should simply be ignored. By the end of the novel, she has learned from the past without wanting to remain trapped inside it.
32. Friendship and Affection Matter
A regard for the requester would often make one readily yield to a request, without waiting for arguments to reason one into it.
Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth argues that relationships affect how people make decisions. Logic matters, but affection has influence too, whether people admit it or not.
33. Conversation Is a Skill
Perhaps I should have judged better, had I sought an introduction.
Mr Darcy
Darcy eventually acknowledges that his behavior at the Meryton assembly helped create the poor impression everyone formed of him. Sometimes being misunderstood starts with making very little effort to be understood.
34. Love Needs Some Courage
A slight preference is natural enough; but there are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement.
Charlotte Lucas
Charlotte’s advice reflects the social realities of Austen’s world, but the emotional truth still feels familiar. Being vulnerable is easier when we believe there is at least some chance of being met halfway.
35. First Impressions Can Fail
I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.
Mr Darcy
Darcy’s feelings for Elizabeth grow only after his first judgment proves useless. It is a fitting final reminder that Pride and Prejudice is full of people discovering that certainty and accuracy are not the same thing.
Why These Pride and Prejudice Quotes Still Resonate
The magic of Pride and Prejudice quotes lies in their timeless blend of insight, humor, and heart. Jane Austen’s characters wrestle with pride, prejudice, and vulnerability in ways that still feel relevant today.
Whether it’s the thrill of romance, the sting of witty banter, or the quiet wisdom tucked between the lines, these passages remind us that human nature hasn’t changed much in 200 years.
For more enduring literary works that have stood the test of time, explore our list of bestselling books of all time.
Final Thoughts
From Darcy’s awkward declarations to Elizabeth’s sharpest observations, these Pride and Prejudice quotes prove why Austen’s novel remains so easy to revisit. The romance matters, but so do the ideas underneath it: self-awareness, humility, judgment, independence, and the courage to change your mind.
More than two hundred years later, Elizabeth and Darcy still feel alive because neither of them gets everything right the first time.
And perhaps that is one of Austen’s best lessons: sometimes the person, the situation, or even yourself deserves a second look.
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