Emma Quotes

Find the perfect quote to float your boat. Shmoop breaks down key quotations from Emma.

Foolishness and Folly Quotes

The real evils, indeed, of Emma's situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself. […] The danger, however, was at pres...

Marriage Quotes

Matrimony, as the origin of change, was always disagreeable [...] (1.11)

Home Quotes

"It is the greatest absurdity [….] The folly of not allowing people to be comfortable at home—and the folly of people's not staying comfortably at home when they can!" (13.24)

Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the worl...

Transformation Quotes

She would notice her; she would improve her; she would detach her from her bad acquaintance, and introduce her into good society; she would form her opinions and her manners. It would be an interes...

Respect and Reputation Quotes

Harriet Smith was the natural daughter of somebody. […]This was all that was generally known of her history (3.9)

Love Quotes

"There does seem to be a something in the air of Hartfield which gives love exactly the right direction, and sends it into the very channel where it ought to flow. The course of true love never di...

Wealth Quotes

[…] a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as any body else. (10.18)

Morality and Ethics Quotes

One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other. (9.77)

Gender Quotes

[…] perhaps no man can be a good judge of the comfort a woman feels in the society of one of her own sex, after being used to it all her life. (5.6)