To ask you to catch Jane Austen in the act of greatness and find a better quotes for the Jane Austen banknote

[Amoregentlemanlikemanner]

As many of you will know, the quote on the Jane Austen banknote is something said by a woman who is pretending to like books in order to impress a man:
"I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading"

As this is a bit crap, I wondered whether mumsnet could come up with a better quote. It's not easy as JA is not one for one-liners.

My contribution is in my username but there's also a line about having the right to refuse to answer impertinent questions that I like but can't remember just now...

Bonus points if you can find a line in a book other than P&P.

How quick come the reasons for approving what we like.

Persuasion. Because it is the best JA. It do is.

You need this book. There are plenty of one liners.

'She and been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older-a natural sequel of an unnatural beginning'
JA Persuasion.

My favourite is too long for a banknote:

“When the evening was over, Anne could not but be amused at the idea of her coming to Lyme, to preach patience and resignation to a young man whom she had never seen before; nor could she help fearing, on more serious reflection, that, like many other great moralists and preachers, she had been eloquent on a point in which her own conduct would ill bear examination.”

I don't see the problem. The amount of people who will remember or know the context of the quote (and care) is small. I appreciate that it's "fake".... but as a stand alone quote, it works well and sums up Austen and the reason she's famous to start with; people read her books.

A more amusing one about reading: "The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." - Northanger Abbey

Or maybe, for a banknote, something about money: "A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of." - Mansfield Park

These are all fab.

Hathaway, you may be lost beyond all saving.

I actually like the irony of the original quotation coming from the mouth of Miss Bingley. I think Jane Austen would be amused.

Agree it is very Austen-like irony

I went through all her money related quotes when the £10 note came out. I love this, from Emma: "A very narrow income has a tendency to contract the mind and sour the temper."

I think it's ironic that a woman who was always worried about money, and wrote a lot about that, would end up with her face in a banknote. But I suppose she would appreciate the irony of it.

Captain Wentworth had no fortune. He had been lucky in his profession; but spending freely, what had come freely, had realized nothing

I love Persuasion - if I only had two books to read in perpetuity I'd choose that and Mansfield Park.

I feel like a bit of an amateur Austenite because P&p is my favourite.

Am I just in the Austen foothills here?

How about quotes that would be useful for shopkeepers in awkward situations? "You have insulted me in every way possible. I must now ask you to leave".