Pride and Prejudice

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C. Scribner's sons, 1918 - Courtship - 401 pages
Austen’s most celebrated novel tells the story of Elizabeth Bennet, a bright, lively young woman with four sisters, and a mother determined to marry them to wealthy men. At a party near the Bennets’ home in the English countryside, Elizabeth meets the wealthy, proud Fitzwilliam Darcy. Elizabeth initially finds Darcy haughty and intolerable, but circumstances continue to unite the pair. Mr. Darcy finds himself captivated by Elizabeth’s wit and candor, while her reservations about his character slowly vanish. The story is as much a social critique as it is a love story, and the prose crackles with Austen’s wry wit.
 

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Page 1 - It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
Page 2 - ... know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.
Page 392 - The fact is, that you were sick of civility, of deference, of officious attention. You were disgusted with the women who were always speaking and looking and thinking for your approbation alone. I roused and interested you, because I was so unlike them.
Page 111 - I am well aware that it could not be complied with; and that one thousand pounds in the 4 per cents, which will not be yours till after your mother's decease, is all that you may ever be entitled to. On that head, therefore, I shall be uniformly silent; and you may assure yourself that no ungenerous reproach shall ever pass my lips when we are married.
Page 255 - Every idea that had been brought forward by the housekeeper was favourable to his character, and as she stood before the canvas on which he was represented, and fixed his eyes upon herself, she thought of his regard with a deeper sentiment of gratitude than it had ever raised before ; she remembered its warmth, and softened its impropriety of expression.
Page 364 - It ought to be so ; it must be so, while he retains the use of his reason. But your arts and allurements may, in a moment of infatuation, have made him forget what he owes to himself and to all his family. You may have drawn him in." "If I have, I shall be the last person to confess it.
Page 112 - I am not now to learn," replied Mr. Collins, with a formal wave of the hand, " that it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favor ; and that sometimes the refusal is repeated a second or even a third time.
Page 50 - You appear to me, Mr Darcy, to allow nothing for the influence of friendship and affection. A regard for the requester would often make one readily yield to a request, without waiting for arguments to reason one into it.
Page 179 - I have told Miss Bennet several times, that she will never play really well unless she practises more; and though Mrs. Collins has no instrument, she is very welcome, as I have often told her, to come to Rosings every day, and play on the pianoforte iu Mrs. Jenkinson's room. She would be in nobody's way, you know, in that part of the house.
Page 3 - It is more than I engage for, I assure you/' "But consider your daughters. Only think what an establishment it would be for one of them. Sir William and Lady Lucas are determined to go, merely on that account, for in general, you know, they visit no new-comers. Indeed you must go, for it will be impossible for us to visit him if you do not/' "You are over-scrupulous surely.

About the author (1918)

The daughter of a well-to-do family in the English countryside, Austen began writing as an adolescent, and went on to become one of the most widely read authors in the history of English literature. Her novels often reflect the social and familial customs brought to bear on the development of romantic love, and her work is noted for its caustic irony and sly observations. Austen’s writing marks a crucial literary transition between 18th-century sentimentalism and 19th-century realism.

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