Sense and Sensibility

by Jane Austen

his will was read, and like almost every other will, gave as much disappointment as pleasure.

people always live for ever when there is an annuity to be paid them;

with them, to wish was to hope, and to hope was to expect.

Lady Middleton seemed to be roused to enjoyment only by the entrance of her four noisy children after dinner, who pulled her about, tore her clothes, and put an end to every kind of discourse except what related to themselves.

“whom every body speaks well of, and nobody cares about; whom all are delighted to see, and nobody remembers to talk to.”

I wish as well as every body else to be perfectly happy; but, like every body else it must be in my own way.

“Shyness is only the effect of a sense of inferiority in some way or other.

If you could be supposed to be biased in any respect by your own feelings, your opinion would not be worth having.”

Marianne, who had the knack of finding her way in every house to the library,

The world had made him extravagant and vain—Extravagance and vanity had made him cold-hearted and selfish.

after waiting some time for their completion, after experiencing, as usual, a thousand disappointments and delays from the unaccountable dilatoriness of the workmen,

Marianne Dashwood was born to an extraordinary fate. She was born to discover the falsehood of her own opinions, and to counteract, by her conduct, her most favourite maxims.