Patience & Resolution

"This is the story of what a Woman's patience can endure, and what a Man's resolution can achieve."

I love that this is the way Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White begins.  The first narrator of this creepy, sensational story lets the reader know in the first sentence that when it's all over, everything will turn out okay.  But still the reader reads on, compelled to turn the page and shudder every time Count Fosco enters the scene.  Genius!

Courage in the Face of Intimidation

“My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.”

When Elizabeth Bennet utters this phrase in Pride and Prejudice, she fully illustrates for so many readers, her most admirable characteristic.  She is easy-going, even in the face of an intimidating social situation.  How many times I've wished I had a little Eliza in my veins!

Rocks and Mountains

In the same chapter as the previous post, Elizabeth Bennet further professes her opinion of men.  (At least her current opinion in this point in the novel.)  When her aunt invites her to tour the lake country with her, Elizabeth's effusive response includes this little Pride and Prejudice gem:

“What are men to rocks and mountains?”

Men worth knowing

I don't think this quote of Eliza Bennet's needs any explanation about how truly funny and how wittily true it is.

"Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing, after all." - Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen