Jane Austen Quote – Week 74

This time, as promised to find a quote from a book other than Persuasion, I picked Sense & Sensibility. Funny enough, it’s about keeping a promise as well.

Sense & Sensibility Chapter 37 (Penguin 2003, p. 246), after Marianne found out that Elinor had known about Edward Ferrars’ engagement with Lucy Steele for solid four months and told no soul about it because Elinor had promised Lucy to keep it as a secret.

“Four months!” – cried Marianne again. – “So calm! – so cheerful! – how have you been supported?” –

“By feeling that I was doing my duty. – My promise to Lucy, obliged me to be secret. I owed it to her, therefore, to avoid giving any hint of the truth; and I owed it to my family and friends, not to create in them a solicitude about me, which it could not be in my power to satisfy.”

Marianne seemed much struck. –

“I have very often wished to undeceive yourself and my mother,” added Elinor; “and once or twice I have attempted it; - but without betraying my trust, I never could have convinced you.”


Now, was Elinor not an amazing woman? Time and time again, it has been proved to me that keeping a promise is so hard! I often kept my promise well enough, but some others (particularly about deadlines) were barely kept, making me ashamed of myself.

Not to mention a certain incident that involved Rachel and I and another girl that failed to keep her promise and even lied about it… (the girl is outside this blog, of course). Poor girl, we knew she lied and she still kept fabricating the facts so that we thought she told the truth.

Oh well. Note to self: always try to be honest and keep the promise.

Pic: Elinor Dashwood and Lucy Steele, SS 1995