“She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me.”
Mr. Darcy quotes
Mr. Darcy quotes for everyone who wants him to explain himself
Darcy is compelling because he says too little, then too much, then finally something close to the truth.
The ones with social teeth
Darcy's best lines are not just romantic. They are records of failed manners, social defense, and a man discovering how much his restraint can wound.
“A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”
“I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love.”
“I cannot forget the follies and vices of others so soon as I ought, nor their offences against myself.”
Lines that reveal the speaker
Darcy often sounds most honest when he is trying to explain why he sounds wrong.
“I certainly have not the talent which some people possess, of conversing easily with those I have never seen before.”
“I should have judged better had I sought an introduction, but I am ill-qualified to recommend myself to strangers.”
“There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil.”
“Disguise of every sort is my abhorrence.”
When the story changes temperature
Darcy becomes interesting because the novel makes him change in public, in private, and finally in language.
“You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
“My affections and wishes are unchanged.”
“I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle.”
“I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”
Want the conversation after the quote?
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More quote pages
Follow one voice closely, or stay inside Longbourn and listen to the whole Bennet family at once.
Elizabeth Bennet quotes
Wit, stubbornness, self-correction, and the moments when Lizzy sees more than she meant to.
Mary Bennet quotes
Moral philosophy, wounded pride, and the lines that make Mary more than the family joke.
Mr. Darcy quotes
The insult, the proposal, the apology, and every sentence where Darcy nearly explains himself.
Bennet family quotes
Longbourn in miniature: nerves, irony, kindness, vanity, and five sisters trying to be heard.
Questions people ask
What is Mr. Darcy's most famous quote?
His first insult, "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me," and his first proposal line are among his most famous.
Can I chat with Mr. Darcy?
Mr. Darcy is part of the free Pride and Prejudice Chat launch roster alongside Mary Bennet.
Why do readers still like Darcy?
Because Pride and Prejudice gives him a real arc: pride, failure, correction, and changed behavior.