But Catherine did not know her own advantages - did not know that a good-looking girl, with an affectionate heart and a very ignorant mind, cannot fail of attracting a clever young man, unless circumstances are particularly untoward.

Jane Austen
About This Quote

Catherine, the protagonist of the novel, is a very stupid and uneducated girl. She does not understand how to value herself and what she deserves in life. Her mother does not tell her that she is pretty and that her beauty is something that she should be proud of, and that she should appreciate it. Catherine is an idiot and does not realize that her beauty can be a gift to any man. The fact that she does not understand this makes the men who are attracted to her feel foolish for their attraction towards her.

Source: Northanger Abbey

Some Similar Quotes
  1. I think... if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts. - Leo Tolstoy
  2. One love, one heart, one destiny. - Bob Marley
  3. If you gave someone your heart and they died, did they take it with them? Did you spend the rest of forever with a hole inside you that couldn't be filled? - Jodi Picoult
  4. I wonder how many people don't get the one they want, but end up with the one they're supposed to be with. - Fannie Flagg
  5. The only calibration that counts is how much heart people invest, how much they ignore their fears of being hurt or caught out or humiliated. And the only thing people regret is that they didn't live boldly enough, that they didn't invest enough heart, didn't... - Ted Hughes
More Quotes By Jane Austen
  1. 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.
  2. A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.
  3. In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.
  4. The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!
  5. I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.
Related Topics