Lovely Chapter 14

Chapter 14 of Northanger Abbey holds two of my very favorite Jane Austen quotes.  So much brilliance in one little chapter!

Catherine takes a walk in the country with Mr. and Miss Tilney.  First they discuss novels.  Surely Mr. Tilney does not like novels as Catherine does.  He has more important things to read.  Mr. Tilney answers thus:

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."

I pull this one out of my brain to use against people as often as possible.

Also, this one:

"A woman especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can."

Folks unfamiliar with Austen assume that her writing is stiff, archaic, formal.  This last line proves what I love best about her.  When her tongue is planted in cheek, she is at her best. To me, she is as valuable for her wit as she is for her romance.