There is something so amiable in the prejudices of a young mind, that one is sorry to see them give way to the reception of more general opinions. - Jane Austen

I never wish to offend, but I am so foolishly shy, that I often seem negligent, when I am only kept back by my natural awkwardness. [...] Shyness is only the effect of a sense of inferiority in some way or other. If I could persuade myself that my manners were perfectly easy and graceful, I should not be shy.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

It would be mortifying to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire.