i heart jane

During my travels and studies in England and abroad, I learned of a group who refer to themselves as "Janeites," who are- in all actuality- overly indulgent and proudly public fans of Jane Austen. There are thousands of these glorified groupies scattered all over the world... and to think-- I thought I was alone in my obsession. And so I join their ranks. Thank you, Jane, for your words.

Blog fans, here is your homework: pick your favorite of these and comment on it in this post. Isn't this fun?!!!

"I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them."

"If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the rest, I do think it is memory. There seems something more speakingly incomprehensible in the powers, the failures, the inequalities of memory, than in any other of our intelligences. The memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at others, so bewildered and so weak; and at others again, so tyrannic, so beyond control! We are, to be sure, a miracle every way; but our powers of recollecting and of forgetting do seem peculiarly past finding out."

"Oh! do not attack me with your watch. A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch."

"But when a young lady is to be a heroine, the perverseness of forty surrounding families cannot prevent her. Something must and will happen to throw a hero in her way."

"Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery."

"There is safety in reserve, but no attraction. One cannot love a reserved person."

"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."

"There are certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are of pretty woman to deserve them."

"Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!"

"To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment."