To mark the 240th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, here are my top 10 favourite quotes from her books and personal correspondence.

1. “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” – Pride and Prejudice

2. “There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.” – Northanger Abbey

3. “You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope…I have loved none but you.” – Persuasion

4. “It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.” – Pride and Prejudice

5. “What is right to be done cannot be done too soon.” – Emma

6. “There are as many forms of love as there are moments in time.” – Personal correspondence

7. “Know your own happiness. Want for nothing but patience – or give it a more fascinating name: Call it hope.” – Sense and Sensibility

8. “Indulge your imagination in every possible flight.” – Pride and Prejudice

9. “Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.” – Persuasion

10. “There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.” – Emma

What’s your favourite Jane Austen quote? Share it below.