It is a truth universally acknowledged that…we can stop starting articles about Jane Austen with that famous opening line.

While the opening line of Pride & Prejudice is arguably Ms. Austen’s most well known quote, she wrote a wealth of one-liners that deserve just as much notoriety for their wit and quotability. Can we agree to give that tried and true introduction a rest?

Then, let’s explore some of Austen’s lesser known quotes that are equally worthy of becoming immortalized on postcards, coffee mugs, and Pinterest pages by a new generation of Austen fans:

“One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.” – Emma

“My idea of good company…is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.” – Persuasion

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

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

“I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way.” – Sense & Sensibility

“Angry people are not always wise.” – Pride & Prejudice

“Nothing ever fatigues me but doing what I do not like.” – Mansfield Park

“There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.” – Emma

“I will not say that your mulberry-trees are dead, but I am afraid they are not alive.” – A letter to Austen’s sister, Cassandra, May 31, 1811

“I give you joy of our new nephew, and hope if he ever comes to be hanged it will not be till we are too old to care about it.” – A letter to Cassandra, on the birth of their new nephew, April 25, 1811*

*Side Note: This may be my very favorite Austen quote. Biting humor and social commentary all disguised as a birth announcement is classic Jane Austen.

Cassie Perez