Pride and Prejudice Quotes
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Source: Pride and Prejudice
Author: Jane Austen
A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.
Context
This line is spoken by Darcy in the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813).
Early in the novel, the fashionable families of Meryton attend an evening party at Sir William Lucas'. Mr. Darcy, despite his protests to his friends, is forced to admit to himself that he is attracted to Elizabeth Bennet. Meanwhile, mean girl Caroline Bingley flirts with him.
He messes with Caroline when she asks what he's thinking about by telling her the truth—but as if he's joking. He says he's thinking about how pretty Elizabeth's eyes are. Joking back—because how could Mr. Darcy be serious, ha ha ha—Caroline asks when the wedding will be. Darcy keeps up the joke by saying he knew she was going to ask that because women are always thinking about weddings and he can't even pay someone a compliment without all the girls thinking he wants to marry her.
Nice.
Where you've heard it
Check out any of the many film adaptations of Pride and Prejudice for some high quality jabs from Mr. Darcy. We're partial to Colin Firth, but who isn't?
Pretentious Factor
If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.
Mr. Darcy's whole character arc is about how he goes from being a pretentious jerk to slightly less of a pretentious jerk. This is early in the novel, so his pretentious jerk levels are high.