I pay very little regard...to what any young person says on the subject of marriage. If they profess a disinclination for it, I only set it down that they have not yet seen the right person.
Not keep a journal! How are your absent cousins to understand the tenor of your life in Bath without one? How are the civilities and compliments of every day to be related as they ought to be, unless noted down every evening in a journal? How are your various dresses to be remembered, and the particular state of your complexion, and curl of your hair to be described in all their diversities, without having constant recourse to a journal?
Interpretation
What this quote means
Keeping a journal helps in capturing and conveying the details of daily life, ensuring memories are preserved and shared.
In this quote, Jane Austen emphasizes the importance of recording one's daily experiences and observations in a journal. She argues that a journal not only serves as a personal record of life events and changes but also allows those who are distant to understand the nuances of one's existence, including social interactions and personal updates. This practice helps maintain a connection with absent friends or relatives and preserves the details that might otherwise be forgotten over time.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
A teacher might quote this to encourage students to keep a journal of their learning experiences.
More from Jane Austen
All quotes βNobody could catch cold by the sea; nobody wanted appetite by the sea; nobody wanted spirits; nobody wanted strength. Sea air was healing, softening, relaxing - fortifying and bracing - seemingly just as was wanted - sometimes one, sometimes the other. If the sea breeze failed, the seabath was the certain corrective; and where bathing disagreed, the sea air alone was evidently designed by nature for the cure.
He certainly is very agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a stupider person.
A person who is knowingly bent on bad behavior, gets upset when better behavior is expected of them.
You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever.
She hoped to be wise and reasonable in time; but alas! Alas! She must confess to herself that she was not wise yet.
Similar quotes
Individualism regards man - every man - as an independent, sovereign entity who possesses an inalienable right to his own life, a right derived from his nature as a rational being. Individualism holds that a civilized society, or any form of association, cooperation or peaceful co-existence among men, can be achieved only on the basis of the recognition of individual rights - and that a group, as such, has no rights other than the individual rights of its members.
If you look at other countries, you see they have different values: defend more, pass the ball out more, winning is holy. In England, you could say that sport itself is holy. They say, 'Look, guys, it's about more than just winning.'
We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the sermon on the mount.
Religion is the opiate of the people.
What can you ever really know of other people's souls β of their temptations, their opportunities, their struggles? One soul in the whole of creation you do know: and it is the only one whose fate is placed in your hands. If there is a God, you are, in a sense, alone with Him.
As a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy consume a man.