Jane Austen Quotes On Her Birthday: Sayings From The 'Pride And Prejudice' Novelist

Jane Austen may have her 241st birthday Friday, but the novels she wrote all those years ago are no worse for wear. The celebrated English novelist from the 18th century is still well known for works like "Pride and Prejudice," "Sense and Sensibility" and "Emma," among others.

Born Dec. 16, 1775 in England, Austen’s voice and explorations of the relationships between women, their marriages and economic security have been read and shared for centuries.

Quotes from her life give an even deeper sense of who she was. Here are a few, thanks to BrainyQuote and Good Reads:

“ Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. 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.”

“Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.”

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

“Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.”

“They are much to be pitied who have not been given a taste for nature early in life.”

“An engaged woman is always more agreeable than a disengaged. She is satisfied with herself. Her cares are over, and she feels that she may exert all her powers of pleasing without suspicion. All is safe with a lady engaged; no harm can be done.”

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

“In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels.”

“Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure.”

“The power of doing anything with quickness is always prized much by the possessor, and often without any attention to the imperfection of the performance.”

“A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”