Okay, so even though this is one of my all time favorite stories, I’m going to start with the disclaimer that just as we should treat life lesson from Gone With the Wind with a grain of salt, Jane Austen might have known how to write a perfect leading man but I think she still had some figuring out to do about life. But if you want to take away some larger messages from the novel, here are a few:
1. All women want to get married: “A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”
2. All men want to get married too … unless they are poor: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
3. But everyone can agree that books are better than being in a relationship: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book!”
4. Sometimes it’s okay to complain: “Nobody can tell what I suffer! But it is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied.”
5. It’s okay to change your mind: “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me, and I am in no humor at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men.” Can turn into … “I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow.”
6. A well placed adjective can make or break a marriage proposal: “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
What lesson is your favorite and which life lessons from the book have I missed? Let me know in the comments!
Alison Doherty 
Another lesson- your mother will probably always meddle with your love life!
Very good lesson. I should definitely have found a good Mrs. Bennet quote to include on my list!
Lesson from this book: Men need convincing that the woman he is drawn to is the right partner, if not from the beginning, as with Mr. Darcy, then somewhere along the way, as with Mr. Bingley, who was so easily diverted – if only for a while – by the opinions of others.
Great lesson! Thanks for commenting Patrice!
This is a great piece! I always loved some of Charlotte Lucas’s lines, like: “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.” Sure, it’s not as romantic and passionate as Elizabeth’s views are, but I think Charlotte had a few pearls of down-to-earth wisdom among the flighty Bennets.
Yes, Charlotte often does seem like the voice of reason within the novel … although Elizabeth and Jane are definitely rewarded for being a little less practical.
Women with mud on their boots are always more interesting!
So true! I love when she shows Netherfield Park with her shoes and petticoats all muddy!