Nerdvana
XXXXXXXXXXXXX. Jane Austen
“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 other 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.”
― Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice
“Know your own happiness.”
― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
“We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.”
― Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
“A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.”
― Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
“I was quiet, but I was not blind.”
― Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
“A fondness for reading, properly directed, must be an education in itself.”
― Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
“Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions.”
― Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
“Every moment has its pleasures and its hope.”
― Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
“There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere.”
― Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
“Let us have the luxury of silence.”
― Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
“You have qualities which I had not before supposed to exist in such a degree in any human creature. You have some touches of the angel in you.”
― Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
Jane Austen Book Club
What would Jane do?
"I like how Austen always lets the men explain themselves.
Darcy writes a letter to Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, and Frank writes to Emma.
Yeah, in Persuasion, everything hangs on Wentworth leaving her that note when everybody's talking all around them.
Yeah. Yeah. Sneaky.
No, smart guy. Perfect timing.
Yeah.
Let us never underestimate the power of a well-written letter."
Love Letters
Our world is an English village.
Bernadette: "I could use a little encounter in the woods with Mr. Darcy right now."
"I was willing to read girly books like Jane Austen...
She is not girly.
Which I found out.
So maybe you would find out
that science fiction's not just..."
Northanger Abbey on young writers
I thought Northanger Abbey was the final book.
- Written first. Published last.
- That makes much more sense.
- Why?
- What happened with her?
'Cause it's a novel about novels.
You know? You see Austen as the young writer, questioning herself.
"Who's a heroine?
What makes a good story?
"Are novels a waste of time? Am I gonna write? What should I write about?"
Sense and Sensibility: I think you'll see she always writes in favor of order and self-control. Nothing unwise. Nothing in haste.
To me, the part that seems forced is
Marianne ending up with Colonel Brandon.
- Anyone else feel that?
- Oh, I have no problem with that.
He rides up on a big stallion,
sweeps her into his arms. I'm there.
From the time Colonel Brandon
meets Marianne, he just lavishes all this attention on her.
And meanwhile, she's throwing herself at Willoughby.
Willoughby is a player.
Women never go for the nice guy.
Please. Men say that, but you get to know
some of these men who complain the most,
you find out they're not as nice
as they like to think they are.
Okay. You know what struck me?
Is that Colonel Brandon is only
a few years younger than Mrs. Dashwood.
Well, why does he take up with
the daughter and not the mother?
Yeah, why not Mrs. Dashwood?
Maybe Mrs. Dashwood won't give him the time of day.
- The book is about the young people.
- Yeah, because Jane Austen thinks that nothing interesting can happen to a woman over 25.
When actually, a novel about a woman seducing a slightly younger man just yields so much more.
Well, then maybe Mrs. Dashwood should go for Willoughby.
Why not?
It's a long, hot summer.
Maybe Mrs. Dashwood has more sense than that.
Okay, can I just point out, she's hardly in the story.
Sex is messy.
Maybe Mrs. Dashwood prefers a more well-ordered life.
Maybe that's why she's such a minor character.
- I think if you read Austen's novels...
- Oh, I have.
You wanted me to, and I did.
I think you'll see she always writes in favor of order and self-control.
- Nothing unwise.
- Nothing in haste.
Okay, so, this is...
This is what, this is a rulebook?
We could do worse.
.....
I understand why Colonel Brandon goes for Marianne.
And it's not 'cause she's young.
It's because she's generous with herself.
She's willing to risk her heart.
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