Memorable quotes for
"Pride and Prejudice" (1995)

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Elizabeth Bennet: Lady Catherine, in marrying your nephew, I should not consider my self as quitting that sphere. He is a gentleman, I am a gentleman's daughter. So far we are equal.

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Mr. Bingley: I wouldn't be as fastidious as you are for a kingdom.

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Miss Bingley: And now the mother! Are we to be invaded by every Bennet in the country? Oh, too much to be borne.
Mr. Hurst: Oh, lord!
[the door opens and Mrs. Bennet, Lizzy, Kitty and Lydia enter]
Mr. Bingley: Mrs. Bennet, you are very welcome.
[He and Darcy bow]
Mr. Bingley: I hope you do not find Miss Bennet worse than you expected.
Mrs. Bennet: Indeed I do, sir. She is very ill indeed, and suffers a vast deal...
[Lizzy looks down, mortified; Bingley looks worried]
Mrs. Bennet: ...though with the greatest patience in the world, for she has the sweetest temper, Mr. Bingley. But she is a great deal too ill to be moved.
[Bingley's sisters, off to the side, look furious at this imposition]
Mrs. Bennet: We must trespass, a little longer, on your kindness.
Mr. Bingley: But of course.
Miss Bingley: Miss Bennet will receive every possible attention, ma'am, I assure you.
Mrs. Bennet: You are very good.
[She laughs, and then immediately dismisses the matter of Jane's health]
Mrs. Bennet: Well, you have a sweet room here! I think you will never want to leave Netherfield, now you are come here.
Mr. Bingley: I believe I should be happy to live in the country forever! Wouldn't you, Darcy?
Mr. Darcy: You would? You don't find the society somewhat confined and unvarying for your taste?
Mrs. Bennet: "Confined and unvarying?" Indeed, it is not, sir! The country is a vast deal pleasanter than town, whatever *you* may say about it!
[Darcy turns his back and walks over to look out the window. Lizzy feels humiliated]
Elizabeth Bennet: Mama, you mistake Mr. Darcy's meaning.
Mrs. Bennet: Do I? Do I? He seems to think the country nothing at all!
Elizabeth Bennet: Mama!
Mrs. Bennet: "Confined!" "Unvarying!" I would have him know we dine with four-and-twenty families!
[the Bingley sisters try unsuccessfully to contain their sniggers; Bingley looks at them in anger and distress]

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[At the party at Lucas Lodge, Sir Lucas endeavors to make conversation with Mr. Bingley's two sisters]
Sir William Lucas: No doubt you attend assemblies at St. James's Court, Miss Bingley?
Miss Bingley: We go but rarely, sir.
Sir William Lucas: Indeed, I am surprised. I should be happy to introduce you there, you know, at any time when I'm in town.
[Mrs. Hurst looks in suppressed shock and mirth at her sister]
Miss Bingley: You are too kind, sir.
[She curtsies, and the two sisters move away]
Sir William Lucas: [feeling awkward, but not quite sure why] Well, well, good, good! Capital, capital!
Miss Bingley: Insufferable conceit! To imagine that we'd need *his* assistance in society.
Mrs. Hurst: I am sure he is a very good kind of man, Caroline.
Miss Bingley: And I am sure he kept a very good kind of *shop* before his elevation to the Knighthood.
[They both giggle maliciously]

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[they are discussing the fact that Wickham has, in essence, extorted from them a fortune for the misery he is likely to face in marrying Lydia]
Mr. Bennet: I should have taken better care of you all.
[bitterly]
Mr. Bennet: The satisfaction of prevailing upon one of the most worthless young men in Britain might then have rested in its proper place. As it is, the thing is done - with extraordinarily little inconvenience to myself. When you take into account what I shall save on Lydia's board and pocket allowance, I am scarcely ten pounds a year worse off.
[Elizabeth gives him a Look that says she recognizes the irony of his self-congratulation. He looks down]
Mr. Bennet: I am heartily ashamed of myself, Lizzy. But don't despair; it'll pass, and no doubt more quickly than it should.

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[Jane and Lizzy are in the pantry, tying up sheaves of herbs to hang and dry]
Jane Bennet: No, I do assure you, this news does not affect me, truly, Lizzy.
[Lizzy smiles skeptically]
Jane Bennet: I am glad of one thing: that he doesn't bring any ladies. If it is merely a shooting party, we shall not see him often. Not that I am afraid of myself; but I dread other people's remarks, Lizzy.
Elizabeth Bennet: Then I shall venture none... however sorely I am tempted. After all, it is hard that the poor man can't come to a house he's legally rented without raising all this speculation.
Jane Bennet: That is just what I think.
Elizabeth Bennet: Then we shall leave him to himself.
Jane Bennet: Yes.
[Lizzy's smile turns mischievous. Jane looks up and sees the smirk]
Jane Bennet: Stop it, Lizzy!
[then they both start to laugh]

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[Mr. Bingley is coming to visit Longbourn for the first time in a year, and Mrs. Bennet is rushing about the room, ordering the girls how to behave]
Mrs. Bennet: Oh, sit up straight, Jane! Pull your shoulders back! A man could go a long way without seeing a figure like yours, if you could only make the most of it!

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[Bingley has determined to go ask Jane to marry him]
Mr. Bingley: [to a manservant] Bring me my horse! At once! Quickly, man!
[the music rises into a suspenseful allegro-crescendo as we watch Bingley ride towards Longbourn, and the women of Longbourn getting the news and preparing for him... ]
Mr. Bingley: [Mrs. Bennet is still in her night-clothes as she runs to Jane's room and cries out in panic:]
Mrs. Bennet: Jane! Jane! Oh, my dear Jane!
[she bursts into Jane's room. Jane is on the edge of her bed, in a white dress, slipping on some slippers]
Jane Bennet: Oh, what is the matter?
Mrs. Bennet: He is come! He is come!
Jane Bennet: [bewildered] Who has come?
Mrs. Bennet: Mr. Bingley, of course! Make haste, make haste, hurry down! Oh gracious, you're not all dressed!
[calling for the housekeeper:]
Mrs. Bennet: Hill! Hill! Oh, where is Hill?
[Mrs. Bennet runs through the halls of the house. She bursts into Lizzy's room, where the maid Sarah is doing Lizzy's hair]
Mrs. Bennet: Never mind, Sarah. You must come to Miss Bennet this moment. Come along, girl, and help her up with her gown, never mind Miss Lizzy's hair!
Kitty: Mama, mama! Where is my new locket that Lydia brought me from London? Mary, have you seen my new locket?
Mary: I shouldn't know it if I did see it. I care nothing for such baubles.
Mrs. Bennet: Oh, never mind your locket, girl! Jane, steady yourself. He is here, he is here!
Jane Bennet: Mama, Lizzy and I will be down as soon as we can. Send Kitty down, she is forwarder than any of us.
Mrs. Bennet: Oh, hang Kitty! What is she to do with it?
[Kitty stamps her foot and turns away, crying]
Mrs. Bennet: Jane, where is your muslin dress, dear? Oh, Hill, Hill! Where is Hill?
[cut to sudden silence from the frantic music, as we see Bingley and the young ladies seated in the parlor; they are all extremely awkward and shy]

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Sir William Lucas: [to Elizabeth as she's trying to pass] Oh, Miss Eliza, why are you not dancing? - Mr. Darcy, allow me to present this young lady to you as a very desirable partner. You cannot refuse to dance, I am sure, when so much beauty is before you.
Elizabeth Bennet: Indeed, Sir, I have not the least intention of dancing. Please don't suppose that I moved this way in order to beg for a partner.
Mr. Darcy: I would be very happy if you'd do me the honour of dancing with me, Miss Bennet.
Elizabeth Bennet: Thank you, but excuse me... - I am... not inclined to dance.
Sir William Lucas: Come, come, why not, when you see that Mr. Darcy has no objection, although he dislikes the amusement so much in general.
Elizabeth Bennet: [sardonically] Mr. Darcy is all politeness.
Sir William Lucas: He is, he is! And why should he not be, considering the inducement, for who could object to such a partner! Eh, Darcy?
Elizabeth Bennet: I beg you would excuse me.
[She leaves]
Sir William Lucas: Oh, well, well...
[looks away]
Sir William Lucas: Oh, capital, Lydia, capital!

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Mr. Darcy: Miss Bennet!
Elizabeth Bennet: Mr Darcy.
[long, awkward pause]
Elizabeth Bennet: I am come to see my sister.
Mr. Darcy: On foot?
Elizabeth Bennet: As you see.
[another long, awkward pause]
Elizabeth Bennet: Would you be so kind as to take me to her?

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Jane Bennet: And Mr Darcy may improve on closer acquaintance.
Elizabeth Bennet: You mean he'll be in a humour to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men? "She is tolerable I suppose, but she's not handsome enough to tempt me".
Jane Bennet: It was very wrong of him to say so.
Elizabeth Bennet: Aye, a capital offence!

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Charlotte Lucas: [discussing Mr Collins] Perhaps I should invite him to dine with us this evening.
Lydia: Aye, do, do. Take him away and feed him, for he's been in high dudgeon all morning.

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Mr. Bennet: Are you out of your senses to be accepting this man?

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Elizabeth Bennet: It is a beautiful instrument.
Georgiana Darcy: My brother gave it to me. He is so good and I don't deserve it.
Elizabeth Bennet: I believe you do. Your brother thinks you do and, as you know, he is never wrong. Now, it is your turn.
[Georgiana looks horrified]
Elizabeth Bennet: I absolutely insist.
Georgiana Darcy: I will play, but please do not make me sing.

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Elizabeth Bennet: And of all this I might have been mistress.

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Mr. Bingley: [furious] You tell me now she was in London all those months and you concealed it from me?
Mr. Darcy: Yes. I can offer no justification. It was an arrogant presumption based on a failure to recognise your true feelings and Miss Bennet's. I should never have interfered. It was very wrong of me, Bingley, and I apologise.
Mr. Bingley: [stunned] You admit that you were in the wrong?
Mr. Darcy: Utterly and completely.
Mr. Bingley: Then... I have your blessing?
Mr. Darcy: [amused] Do you need my blessing?
Mr. Bingley: No. But I should like to know I have it all the same.

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Miss Caroline Bingley: I fear this latest escapade may have lessened your regard for her "fine eyes".
Mr. Darcy: Not at all. They were brightened by the exercise.

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Elizabeth Bennet: I am no longer astonished at you knowing only *six* accomplished women, Mr Darcy, I rather wonder at your knowing *any*.

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Mr. Bennet: An unhappy alternative lies before you. Your mother will never see you again if you do *not* marry Mr Collins, and *I* will never see you again if you *do*.

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Elizabeth Bennet: Mary, pass the potatoes to your aunt Gardiner.
Mary: Hmm?
Kitty: Oh, never mind, I'll do it.
Mrs. Gardiner: Thank you, Kitty.
Kitty: And that's the first kind word I've had from anyone since Lydia went away. I don't see why, it's not as though I had done anything naughty. And I don't think Lydia has done anything so dreadful either.
Jane Bennet: Kitty! Please!

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Jane Bennet: I must take mama her tea.
Mr. Bennet: She still keeps her state above stairs? Lends such an elegance to our situation.

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Mrs. Bennet: [discussing Darcy] He slighted poor Lizzy you know, flatly refused to stand up with her.
Mr. Bennet: Slighted my Lizzy, did he?
Elizabeth Bennet: I didn't care for him either, Father, so it's of little matter.

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Mrs. Bennet: From Netherfield? Oh, Jane, well, what does it say?
Jane Bennet: It's from Miss Bingley.
Mrs. Bennet: Oh, well, that is a good sign, too. Give it to me! - My dear friend... there now... dine with Louisa and me today... la-di-da, la-di-da, la-di-da... as the gentlemen are to dine with the officers. - Oh, that's unlucky! Still you must go and make what you can out of it. - Yours ever, Caroline Bingley. - Very elegant hand.
Jane Bennet: May I have the carriage, Father?
Mrs. Bennet: The carriage? No indeed! You must go on horseback for it looks like rain. Then you will have to stay the night!
Jane Bennet: Mother!
Mrs. Bennet: Oh, why do you look at me like that? Would you go all the way to Netherfield and back without seeing Mr Bingley? No indeed. - You will go on Nelly, that will do very well, indeed.

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Mr. Bingley: All young ladies are accomplished. They sing, they draw, they dance, speak French and German, cover screens and I know not what.
Mr. Darcy: But not half a dozen would satisfy my notion of an accomplished woman.
Miss Bingley: Oh, certainly. No woman can be really esteemed accomplished who does not also possess a certain something in her air, in her manner of walking, in the tone of her voice, her address and expressions.
Mr. Darcy: And to all this she must yet add something more substantial in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.
Elizabeth Bennet: I'm no longer surprised at you knowing only six accomplished women, Mr Darcy. I rather wonder at your knowing any.

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Miss Bingley: Miss Eliza Bennet, let me persuade you to follow my example and take a turn about the room. It's so refreshing. - Will you not join us, Mr Darcy?
Mr. Darcy: That would defeat the object.
Miss Bingley: What do you mean, sir? What on earth can he mean?
Elizabeth Bennet: I think we would do better not to inquire.
Miss Bingley: Nay, we insist on knowing your meaning, sir.
Mr. Darcy: Well, that your figures appear to best advantage when walking and that I might best admire them from my present position.
Miss Bingley: Shocking, abominable reply! How shall we punish him, Miss Eliza?
Elizabeth Bennet: Nothing so easy. Tease him, laugh at him.
Miss Bingley: Laugh at Mr. Darcy? Impossible, he is a man without fault.

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Mr. Darcy: She is tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me.

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Lady Catherine: I am most seriously displeased.

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Elizabeth Bennet: I am determined that nothing but the deepest love could ever induce me into matrimony.

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Mr. Darcy: I shall conquer this, I shall.

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Mrs. Bennet: You have no compassion for my poor nerves.

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Mr. Darcy: In vain have I struggled, it will not do. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.

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Elizabeth Bennet: For a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
Mrs. Bennet: Yes, he must indeed! And who better than one of our five girls?
Lydia: What a fine joke if he were to choose me!
Kitty: Or me!
[Lydia and Kitty laugh]
Jane Bennet: [reprimanding] Lydia!

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Mr. Bingley: Darcy, I shall never understand why you go through the world determined to be displeased with everything and everyone in it.
Mr. Darcy: And I will never understand why you are always in a rage to approve of everything and everyone that you meet.

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Miss Bingley: I believe I can guess your thoughts at this moment.
Mr. Darcy: I should imagine not.
Miss Bingley: You are thinking how insupportable it would be to spend many evenings in such tedious company.
Mr. Darcy: No, indeed, my mind was more agreeably engaged. I've been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow.
Miss Bingley: And may one dare ask whose the eyes that inspire these reflections?
Mr. Darcy: Miss Elizabeth Bennet's.
Miss Bingley: Miss Elizabeth Bennet. I am all astonishment.

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Mrs. Bennet: Did you ever meet such a proud, disagreeable man?
Elizabeth Bennet: The very rich can afford to give offense wherever they go. We need not care for his good opinion.
Mrs. Bennet: No, indeed.
Elizabeth Bennet: Perhaps he is not so handsome after all...?
Mrs. Bennet: Indeed not. Quite ill-favored.

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Jane Bennet: No, seriously, Lizzy. When did you first know you were in love with Mr. Darcy?
Elizabeth Bennet: It came on so slowly I hardly know... but I believe I must date it from the time I first saw his wonderful grounds at Pemberley.

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Mrs. Bennet: I blame those Forsters. There must have been some great neglect on their part, for she is not the sort of girl to do this sort of thing if she had been properly looked after.

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Mrs. Gardiner: I believe one would be willing to put up with a great deal to be mistress of Pemberley.

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Mr. Darcy: I may say the disclosure had quite the opposite effect to the one she intended. It taught me to hope as I had scarcely ever allowed myself to hope before.

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Mr. Darcy: Yes, but that was only when I first knew her, for it is many months since I have considered her as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance.

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Charlotte Lucas: Mr Collins tends the gardens himself and spends a good part of every day in them.
Elizabeth Bennet: The exercise must be beneficial.
Charlotte Lucas: Indeed it is. I encourage him to be in his garden as often as possible. Then he has to walk to Rosings nearly every day
Elizabeth Bennet: So often? Is that necessary?
Charlotte Lucas: Perhaps not, but I admit I encourage him in that also. And when he is in the house, he is mostly in his book room which affords a good view of the road whenever Lady Catherine's carriage should drive by.
Elizabeth Bennet: And you prefer to sit in this parlor.
Charlotte Lucas: Yes. So you see, it often happens that a whole day passes in which we have not spent more than a few minutes in each other's company. I find that I can bear the solitude very cheerfully. I find myself... quite content with my situation Lizzy.

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Lydia: Lizzy, I hope you'll not keep Wickham to yourself all night. Kitty and I want to dance with him as well, you know.
Elizabeth Bennet: I promise I shall not. Even if I wished to, I could not. I have to dance at least the first two with Mr. Collins.
Lydia: Oh, Lord, yes. He's threatened to dance with us all.

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Maria Lucas: Who's that girl dancing with Mr. Wickham?
Elizabeth Bennet: Her name is Mary King.
Charlotte Lucas: She's come to stay with her uncle in Mereton.
Maria Lucas: She's not very pretty, is she?
Charlotte Lucas: Beauty is not the only virtue, Maria. She has just inherited a fortune of ten thousand pounds, I understand.
Mrs. Gardiner: Now that is a definite virtue.

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Elizabeth Bennet: Perhaps I didn't always love him as well as I do now, but in such cases as these a good memory is unpardonable.

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Kitty: I thought Mary sang very ill.
Elizabeth Bennet: Yes, poor Mary. But she is determined to do it.

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Mr. Bennet: Til you or your sister Jane return, I shall not hear two words of sense spoken together.

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Miss Bingley: I remember, when we first knew her in Hertfordshire, how amazed we all were to find that she was a reputed beauty; and I particularly recollect your saying one night, after they had been dining at Netherfield, "She a beauty. - I should as soon call her mother a wit." But afterwards she seemed to improve on you, and I believe you thought her rather pretty at one time.'

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Kitty: I heard that Mrs. Foster is to go sea-bathing.
Lydia: I would love to go sea-bathing.
Mrs. Bennet: A little sea-bathing would set me up for ever.
Mr. Bennet: And yet I am unmoved.

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Mrs. Bennet: Oh, Mr. Bennet, nothing you say shall ever vex me again.
Mr. Bennet: I'm sorry to hear it.

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Elizabeth Bennet: I am only resolved to act in a manner which will constitute my own happiness without reference to you or any person so wholly unconnected with me.

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Elizabeth Bennet: The more I see of the world, the less inclined I am to think well of it.

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Mr. Collins: Have a care, Dawkins.

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Mr. Bingley: I can't have you standing about in this stupid manner, I must have you dance, I must.

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Mrs. Bennet: You don't know what I suffer.

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Elizabeth Bennet: How is half such a sum to be repaid?

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Mr. Bennet: Are you not excessively diverted?

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Mr. Hurst: That was a damn, tedious waste of an evening.

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Elizabeth Bennet: What must he think of me?

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Lady Catherine: Is this to be endured, it shall not be.

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Mrs. Bennet: Oh, fetch my smelling salts, I feel my faintness coming on me again.

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Mary: Misfortunes, we are told, have been sent to test our fortitude.

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Mary: [when asked about dancing] The rewards of observation and reflection are much greater.

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Mary: The pleasures of Brighton should have little charms for me. I should infinitely prefer a book.

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Mary: But we must stem the tide of malice, and pour into each other's wounded bosoms the balm of sisterly consolation.

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Elizabeth Bennet: Other way, Mr. Collins!

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Mary: I'm sorry, but I take little pleasure in a ball.

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Mary: It behooves us all, to take very careful thought before pronouncing an adverse judgment on any of our fellow men.

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Elizabeth Bennet: Insufferable presumption!

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Jane Bennet: [referring to Mr. Darcy and his company at the first dance] They're very elegant.
Elizabeth Bennet: Better pleased with themselves than what they see, I think.

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Mr. Collins: Lady Catherine de Bourgh herself was kind enough to suggest that these shelves be fitted exactly as you see them there.
Elizabeth Bennet: Shelves in the closet. Happy thought indeed.

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Mr. Darcy: Dearest, loveliest Elizabeth!

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Mr. Bennet: No lace. No lace, Mrs. Bennett, I beg you!

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Mr. Darcy: Do you talk by rule, then, when you're dancing?
Elizabeth Bennet: Yes, sometimes it is best. Then we may enjoy the advantage of saying as little as possible.
Mr. Darcy: Do you consult your own feelings in this case, or seek to gratify mine?
Elizabeth Bennet: Both, I imagine. We are each of an unsocial, taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room.
Mr. Darcy: [drily] This is no very striking resemblance of your own character, I'm sure.

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Elizabeth Bennet: She had better have stayed home. Assistance is impossible and condolence insufferable. Let her triumph over us at a distance and be satisfied.

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Mr. Darcy: Every savage can dance.

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Lady Catherine: [inturuptin Mr Collins] Yes,yes but this is all very vexing... I'm quite put out!

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Elizabeth Bennet: You're mistaken, Mr. Darcy. The mode of your declaration merely spared me any concern I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentleman-like manner. You could not have made me the offer of your hand in any possible way that would have tempted me to accept it. From the very beginning your manners impressed me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit and your selfish disdain for the feelings of others. I had not known you a month before I felt you were the last man in the world whom I could ever marry!

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