Jane Austen Quote of the Week 253

This week I have not chosen a Jane Austen quote but instead a quote from The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James as it stood out for me this week.

"I believe there is a kind of happiness to be found in every thing in life, in all that is good and pleasing, as well as in that which is sad or poignant."

Through the work that I do I hear peoples experiences, often these experiences are intense and challenging to overcome. This is a quote that some people may disagree with on initially reading. The "kind of" is relevant as we learn from every experience and this is to vital for us developing through our lives.

Pic: Kind of happiness

How to Speak Like Jane Austen and Live Like Elizabeth Bennet

How to Speak Like Jane Austen and Live Like Elizabeth Bennet – a delightfully inventive interpretation of all things Pride and Prejudice – translates the lively language of Jane Austen and the lovely lifestyle of Elizabeth Bennet into easy-to-embrace guidelines for 21^st century living, making it possible to talk like Jane and act like Elizabeth – anytime, anyplace.

 

Honoring the 200^th anniversary of the novel’s 1813 publication, faithful followers of Pride and Prejudice now have a way to bring the timeless eloquence of Jane Austen and the inspired enlightenment of Elizabeth Bennet into their everyday lives.

Pride and Prejudice has enjoyed more than two centuries of unprecedented popularity – its most recent surge attributed to the wildly successful 1995 BBC/A&E production. As a result, contemporary interpretations of Austen’s work abound in the popular culture of “Austenmania,” yet not one focuses solely on Austen’s best loved novel and its most admired heroine – until now! 

How to Speak Like Jane Austen and Live Like Elizabeth Bennet by Kaelyn Caldwell is available through all major e-book retailers. To read excerpts, please visit www.austenandbennet.com. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
 

Much like Austen and Elizabeth, How to Speak Like Jane Austen and Live Like Elizabeth Bennet takes a sometimes lighthearted, sometimes serious, approach to the parlance and pace of Pride and Prejudice:

• Part I, “How to Speak Like Jane Austen,” is an entertaining resource, translating 21^st century words, phrases and sentiments into their Pride and Prejudice counterparts, making it easy to introduce the author’s language into contemporary conversation.
• A more serious interpretation of Elizabeth’s lifestyle is contained in Part II, “How to Live Like Elizabeth Bennet,” which distills the heroine’s circumspect and circumscribed existence into simple precepts for modern living.
• Part III, “What would Lizzie Do?,” puts the enjoyment of the language and the inspiration of the lifestyle together in a lighthearted imagining of a more Austen-sounding and Elizabeth-acting way of life.

Pic: How to Speak like Jane Austen and Live Like Elizabeth Bennet

 

Jane Austen Quote of the Week 252

I am using James Austen's "The Loiterer" for my Jane quote since I sincerely believe that Jane was influenced by his writings and she learned a lot, too. Since I have a minor in History, you will know that I love that subject and that is why I quote from James Austen's periodical "The Loiterer" Issue No. 7 this week. I will only quote a few sentences in order to pique your interest to read the entire Issue. So, speaking on the subject of "history" James writes in the second paragraph:
 

It relates indeed the vices of tyrants, the meanness of their flatterers, and the miseries of their people; but it relates also the virtues of their destroyers, the public spirit of a party struggling for liberty, and the happiness of a nation which enjoys it. And if the unhardened sensibility of youth, and the unpolluted bosom of innocence, will turn in disgust from the short-lived frenzies of a Caligula or a Claudius, they will dwell with repeated rapture on the glorious annals of a Trajan or an Antonine. - Since history can boast examples at once so powerful to deter from vicious extravagance, and incite to virtuous undertakings, no wonder it has been ever the favourite study of the wise and great: that it has stimulated the one to new discoveries, and the other to difficult achievements.

Well, I make no claim to be one of the "wise and great" due to my study of history, but I have certainly learned a lot from it. I remember the old saying that "history repeats itself" and I can see history repeating itself in these present days of turmoil and troubles as well as seeing those who "turn in disgust" from these turmoils.

I highly recommend the entire issue for your consideration and you may read it here: The Loiterer, Issue No. 7.

Because of my intense love of History and due to the events of these days, I stumbled onto a slew of historical writings that shed a lot of light on the current events of today. Consequently, I found Daniel Defoe, William Wilberforce, and the multitude of "periodicals" mentioned by my esteemed and beloved James Austen in his Loiterer. I have found tons on line and have downloaded many so that I can have them on hand, especially since they are out of print. Thank goodness for Google books. And lest I forget, the multitude of writings mentioned by Jane, herself. I must say that all that will keep me busy for quite a while and they are too numerous to mention all the titles. So Happy Reading and Searching.

Linda the Librarian

 

Pic: The Loiterer

Jane Austen Quote of the Week 251

This week I am using an exchange between Mr Darcy and Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice when discussing "the" letter in Chapter 58 (or volume 3, chapter 16). She begins:

``The letter, perhaps, began in bitterness, but it did not end so. The adieu is charity itself. But think no more of the letter. The feelings of the person who wrote, and the person who received it, are now so widely different from what they were then, that every unpleasant circumstance attending it ought to be forgotten. You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.''

``I cannot give you credit for any philosophy of the kind. Your retrospections must be so totally void of reproach, that the contentment arising from them is not of philosophy, but, what is much better, of innocence. But with me, it is not so. Painful recollections will intrude which cannot, which ought not, to be repelled. I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. As a child I was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit.

I have come across this a few times as it is such a turning point in the novel but the bolded line is what always sticks out for me. Is Elizabeth speaking out of innocence because she has not experienced pain previously? Or is she speaking out of wisdom because to refer to the past with pleasure (even if focussing only on the positive elements) will surely make for a more pleasant present and outlook into the future.

Pic: Mr Darcy writing letter

Tom Lefroy Quote Week 34

Apologies for being late... but I hope it's okay!

 My apologies for being late with the quote; totally forgot about it. I had a busy weekend; we had three dinners with friends in three consecutive nights (invited friends on Friday night and Sunday nights and attended dinner at a friend’s place on Saturday night). Must remind myself to ask Rachel to Whatsapp me in case I haven’t sent any quotes by Sunday morning on my turns. Otherwise, I will always be late... But I hope the Tom Lefroy quote here made it up.

From The Memoir of Chief Justice Lefroy, page 33. A letter from Tom to his son Anthony:

“I hope you are attentive to your business, and get your lessons, not merely so as to pass, but so as to understand them as perfectly as you can, and above all things that you don’t loiter and waste time. When you play,– play, – but when you read, read and don’t play.”

Well, I often feel that I don’t have enough time for myself lately. Been chased around by deadlines. However, I am pleased to report that I did not work at all on Saturday, and only worked on an email briefly for 10 minutes on Sunday. Last weekend was still very busy, admittedly. But still, I played. Of sort.