“Pictures of perfection, as you know, make me sick and wicked.” Rejecting unrealistically flawless characters in favour of recognisable human imperfection · Letter to Fanny Knight, 23 March 1817 Character Humour Writing
“What should I do with your strong, manly, spirited sketches, full of variety and glow? How could I possibly join them on to the little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush, as produces little effect after much labour?” Her famous miniature-painting metaphor for the narrow scale and precision of her fiction · Letter to James Edward Austen, 16 December 1816 Art Style Writing
“Composition seems to me impossible with a head full of joints of mutton and doses of rhubarb.” Humorously describing the conflict between creative work and domestic responsibilities · Letter to Cassandra Austen, 8 September 1816 Humour Work Writing
“No, I must keep to my own style and go on in my own way; and though I may never succeed again in that, I am convinced that I should totally fail in any other.” A firm declaration of artistic independence and fidelity to her own voice · Letter to James Stanier Clarke, 1 April 1816 Independence Style Writing
“But I could no more write a romance than an epic poem. I could not sit seriously down to write a serious romance under any other motive than to save my life.” Rejecting pressure to abandon the kind of fiction best suited to her talents · Letter to James Stanier Clarke, 1 April 1816 Humour Independence Writing
“I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” Her reported intention when creating the deliberately imperfect heroine of Emma · Conversation, recalled in A Memoir of Jane Austen Character Originality Writing
“Your own feelings, and none but your own, should determine such an important point.” Urging her niece to trust her own feelings when deciding whom to marry · Letter to Fanny Knight, 30 November 1814 Independence Love Trust
“You are now collecting your people delightfully, getting them exactly into such a spot as is the delight of my life. Three or four families in a country village is the very thing to work on.” A celebrated statement of the intimate social scale on which she preferred to write · Letter to Anna Austen, 9 September 1814 Character Society Writing
“You describe a sweet place, but your descriptions are often more minute than will be liked. You give too many particulars of right hand and left.” Practical advice on selecting rather than exhausting descriptive detail · Letter to Anna Austen, 9 September 1814 Criticism Style Writing
“Let the Portmans go to Ireland; but as you know nothing of the manners there, you had better not go with them. You will be in danger of giving false representations.” Advising a young novelist to write from genuine knowledge and observation · Letter to Anna Austen, 10 August 1814 Experience Truth Writing
“I detest a quarto. Capt. Pasley's book is too good for their society. They will not understand a man who condenses his thoughts into an octavo.” Playfully favouring intellectual economy over ponderous presentation · Letter to Cassandra Austen, February 1813 Books Humour Style
“The work is rather too light, and bright, and sparkling; it wants shade.” A witty piece of self-criticism about the tone of Pride and Prejudice · Letter to Cassandra Austen, 4 February 1813 Criticism Style Writing
“I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her at least I do not know.” Expressing her deep affection for the character Elizabeth Bennet · Letter to Cassandra Austen, 29 January 1813 Character Humour Writing
“I want to tell you that I have got my own darling child from London.” Her affectionate response to receiving a newly printed copy of Pride and Prejudice · Letter to Cassandra Austen, 29 January 1813 Books Love Writing
“I have now attained the true art of letter-writing, which we are always told is to express on paper exactly what one would say to the same person by word of mouth.” Defining good correspondence as natural conversation transferred to paper · Letter to Cassandra Austen, 3 January 1801 Communication Language Writing
“I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.” A dry observation on sociability, affection and personal taste · Letter to Cassandra Austen, 24 December 1798 Character Friendship Humour
“Next week I shall begin my operations on my hat, on which you know my principal hopes of happiness depend.” Mocking the disproportionate importance society can give to fashion · Letter to Cassandra Austen, 27 October 1798 Convention Happiness Humour
“What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps one in a continual state of inelegance.” Turning everyday discomfort into an elegant piece of self-mockery · Letter to Cassandra Austen, 18 September 1796 Humour Life
“I am very much flattered by your commendation of my last letter, for I write only for fame, and without any view to pecuniary emolument.” A characteristically playful claim of literary ambition · Letter to Cassandra Austen, 16 January 1796 Fame Humour Writing
“How much I dread the thought of any body’s marrying who is not in love.” Affirming love as the essential foundation of marriage · Letter to Fanny Knight Hope Love
“A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.” A characteristically dry observation on money and contentment · Letter to Cassandra Austen Joy Truth
“I am not at all in a humour for writing; I must write on till I am.” Capturing the persistence required to recover creative momentum · Letter to Cassandra Austen Art Poetry
