Jane Austen Literature Humor Quotes

“Jane Austen may not be the best writer, but she certainly writes about the best people. And by that I mean people just like me.”
― Anna Quindlen, How Reading Changed My Life

“For it was a truth universally acknowledged that a single vicar must be in want of a wife.”
― G.M. Malliet, Wicked Autumn

“Remind me why I'm doing this again?" I whispered back.
"For your real friends, of course: Me, Caleb, and Chad."
"That's sweet of you to say, but I'm not sure we're all friends. Mr. Darcy over here," I indicated Caleb with a nod, "finds me barely tolerable.”
― Amy Helmes, Tempestuous

“All the Jane Austen in the library cannot wash the Queens from this little hand.”
― Mary Gordon, Good Boys and Dead Girls: And Other Essays

“Jane Austen would be so proud. Another girl trussed up for a fancy party."
"On the contrary, she'd be horrified. All that skin. You'd need about another five yards of material.”
― Mary Jane Hathaway, Pride, Prejudice, and Cheese Grits

“There's no way on God's green earth that I'm dressing up like Mr. Darcy." Brooks stretched out on Caroline's bed, hanging his suede wing tips off the edge and crossing his ankles. He laced his fingers behind his head and looked infuriatingly cool and relaxed.
"Not Mr. Darcy. That's the guy from Pride and Prejudice. You're supposed to come as Mr. Knightley.”
― Mary Jane Hathaway, Emma, Mr. Knightley, and Chili-Slaw Dogs

“I feel weird.” Caroline blinked a few times. “Do you feel weird?”
Brooks shrugged. “How weird? We’re all dressed like people in a Jane Austen book. I think weird comes with the territory.”
― Mary Jane Hathaway, Emma, Mr. Knightley, and Chili-Slaw Dogs

“My cousin Rebecca teaches comparative English literature at Midlands College. She’s always seeing Austen in the world around her.”
“Exactly.” Theresa beamed. “Life is easier to understand when you think of it in terms of Pride and Prejudice. And all the others.”
“I didn’t realize there were that many others.” She thought for a moment. “Wait, I think I saw a bit of Emma on the BBC one year.”
“Wasn’t it amazing?” Theresa gripped her hand, blue eyes bright with excitement. “What was your favorite part? The dance? Or the proposal?”
She searched her memory for any bit of the plot line but came up empty. “I… I liked the hats,” she said.
Theresa stared for a moment, then burst into laughter. Lucy felt her face warming as curious guests turned to watch.
“You liked the hats. Oh, girl.”
― Mary Jane Hathaway, Persuasion, Captain Wentworth and Cracklin' Cornbread

“Thank you. There were three of us kids, all right together. I’m the oldest, she was the knee-baby, and my brother Henry came last. Funny, I miss her all the time, but I miss her most when I’m reading Austen. We’d been fans since we were in the seventh and eighth grade, two Creole girls gigglin’ about marriage proposals gone bad. Our daddy teased us about reading each other passages during a Fourth of July crawfish boil, so he named the biggest one Mr. Darcy and threw him in the pot.” She looked up, a smile fighting the tears in her eyes. “We refused to eat him.”
― Mary Jane Hathaway, Persuasion, Captain Wentworth and Cracklin' Cornbread

“Let’s get this movie started. There’s nothing like a little Austen to soothe the wounded soul,” Theresa said.”
― Mary Jane Hathaway, Persuasion, Captain Wentworth and Cracklin' Cornbread

“All the captain's wives belonged to the literate, well-traveled ranks of the new upper-middle class. Family records say as little about them as such records generally say about women, but one of them - probably Sarah's great-grandmother Mary Furber - left an unsigned diary that the Jewett sisters discovered in the old house when they were well into middle age. Set in Exeter in 1782, it shows us a young woman much like one of Jane Austen's Bennett sisters (the younger, flighty ones), engaged in a ceaseless and rather cold-blooded appraisal of the marriage market. Young men are ruthlessly sorted into two categories, "Somebodies" and "Nobodies.”
― Paula Blanchard, Sarah Orne Jewett: Her World And Her Work

“Mr. Darcy regains my interest. As if he ever lost it.
“Mmhmm, thanks.” The phone clicks back in its charger. My sister springs up from the floor mummy-style. “That traitor!”
Okay, Darcy, see you later. I close the book. “Who was that?”
― Allyson Kennedy, The Crush

“A woman of little propriety may not receive the public’s respect, but she will gain their attendance.”
― Caroline George, Dearest Josephine

“You're incorrigible." She punched his shoulder. "And your attempts at embarrassing me are terribly ignoble."
He stood too, body loose with laughter, and too close for comfort. "Quit using Old English to distract me. Also, you need to work on those tells, Knightlina."
"I'm terrified to ask."
"Well, Old English is your crutch when you're uncomfortable. But we digress.”
― Sonali Dev, The Emma Project