Passages

Volume I · Chapter I

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

The narrator

Not a proverb. A diagnosis of a whole neighbourhood’s economy.

1. The narratorIt is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortun…
2. The narratorThis truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is conside…
3. Mrs BennetA single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our g…
4. Charlotte LucasHappiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties…
5. The narrator, on CharlotteWithout thinking highly either of men or matrimony, marriage had always been her object;…
6. Charlotte LucasI am not romantic, you know; I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering…
7. Mr CollinsMy reasons for marrying are, first, that I think it a right thing for every clergyman in…
8. Elizabeth BennetFrom the very beginning, from the first moment, I may almost say, of my acquaintance wit…
9. Fitzwilliam DarcyIn vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must al…
10. Fitzwilliam DarcyIf your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections …
11. Mr Bennet, to ElizabethI know your disposition, Lizzy. I know that you could be neither happy nor respectable, …
12. The narratorHow little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought togethe…