The Other Austen

Guaranteed to Bring Out the Bitch In You

  • 29th January
    2012
  • 29
  • 1st August
    2011
  • 01
Day 27: A quote you try to live by

Er…anything Jane Austen ever wrote. I hate the bull shit ‘inspirational’ quotes you see on middle-aged people’s Facebook profiles.

Some gems from Jane:

—“Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken.”

—“My sore throats are always worse than anyone’s.”

—“How quick come the reasons for approving what we like!”


What I like about these quotes is that she points out our prejudices and rationalizations. Ever ironic, she’s constructing universal truths about the inconsistencies and trivialities found in human nature. Perhaps the only real truth is the lack of it. We are selfish and convinced that our way is the only way. We are constantly performing.

Since this type of behavior is obviously not going anywhere, we might as well laugh at it and maybe use it to learn something about ourselves and others. What is our experience of a situation or the world in general? How does it compare to others experiences? We may prefer our own, but is it really better? Can we ever really present ourselves to others and be ‘true’ or consistent?

Anyway, I really need to finish this challenge soon. It’s only taken me, what, two months? Fail.

  • 30th June
    2011
  • 30