Emma Quotes

“If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“I may have lost my heart, but not my self-control. ”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“I cannot make speeches, Emma...If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am. You hear nothing but truth from me. I have blamed you, and lectured you, and you have borne it as no other woman in England would have borne it.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised or a little mistaken.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“You must be the best judge of your own happiness.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“Without music, life would be a blank to me.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“Better be without sense than misapply it as you do. ”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“Were I to fall in love, indeed, it would be a different thing; but I have never been in love ; it is not my way, or my nature; and I do not think I ever shall.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“Men of sense, whatever you may choose to say, do not want silly wives.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“Indeed, I am very sorry to be right in this instance. I would much rather have been merry than wise.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“She was one of those, who, having, once begun, would be always in love.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“I lay it down as a general rule, Harriet, that if a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“My dearest Emma," said he, "for dearest you will always be, whatever the event of this hour's conversation, my dearest, most beloved Emma -- tell me at once. Say 'No,' if it is to be said." She could really say nothing. "You are silent," he cried, with great animation; "absolutely silent! at present I ask no more."

Emma was almost ready to sink under the agitation of this moment. The dread of being awakened from the happiest dream, was perhaps the most prominent feeling.

"I cannot make speeches, Emma," he soon resumed; and in a tone of such sincere, decided, intelligible tenderness as was tolerably convincing. "If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am. You hear nothing but truth from me. I have blamed you, and lectured you, and you have borne it as no other woman in England would have borne it. Bear with the truths I would tell you now, dearest Emma, as well as you have borne with them. The manner, perhaps, may have as little to recommend them. God knows, I have been a very indifferent lover. But you understand me. Yes, you see, you understand my feelings and will return them if you can. At present, I ask only to hear, once to hear your voice.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“Vanity working on a weak head produces every sort of mischief.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“Mr. Knightley, if I have not spoken, it is because I am afraid I will awaken myself from this dream.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“It's such a happiness when good people get together.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“Why not seize the pleasure at once? -- How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart,' said she afterwards to herself.  'There is nothing to be compared to it.  Warmth and tenderness of heart, with an affectionate, open manner, will beat all the clearness of head in the world, for attraction: I am sure it will.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“Business, you know, may bring money, but friendship hardly ever does.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“Badly done, Emma!”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“This sweetest and best of all creatures, faultless in spite of all her faults.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“It is not every man's fate to marry the woman who loves him best”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable.”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“There is one thing, Emma, which a man can always do if he chooses, and that is his duty; not by manoeuvring and finessing, but by vigour and resolution. - Mr. Knightley”
― Jane Austen, Emma

“Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste it's fragrance on the desert air.”
― Jane Austen, Emma