Pride and Prejudice (1940)

Greer Garson: Elizabeth Bennet

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Quotes 

• Elizabeth Bennet : Oh, if you want to be really refined, you have to be dead. There's no one as dignified as a mummy

• Mr. Darcy : I rather admired what you did this afternoon Miss Elizabeth. Your resentment of what you believe to be an injustice showed courage and loyalty. I could wish i might possess a friend who would defend me as ably as Mr. Wickham was defended today.

  Elizabeth Bennet : At this moment it's difficult to believe that you're so proud.

  Mr. Darcy : At this moment it's difficult to believe that you're so prejudiced.

• Elizabeth Bennet : Oh Mr. Darcy, Miss Bingley here is eager for her lesson. I hope you will enjoy it, Miss Bingley, and that you will learn to direct your darts with greater accuracy.

• Elizabeth Bennet : How clever of you, Miss Bingley, to know something of which you are ignorant.

• Mr. Darcy : I have made the mistake of being honest with you.

  Elizabeth Bennet : Honesty is a greatly overrated virtue. Silence in this case would have been more agreeable.

• Elizabeth Bennet : I tremble and obey.

• Elizabeth Bennet : You know him so little.

  Charlotte Lucas : Well, ignorance is bliss, Lizzie. If one is to spend one's life with a person, it's best to know as little as possible of his defects. After all, one would find them out soon enough.

• Mr. Wickham : You are right. The weather is too dangerous a subject. To be quite safe, I shall ask you how you like it here in Meryton.

  Elizabeth Bennet : Ahh! That's anything but safe!

  Mr. Wickham : I'm just discovering that I like it prodigiously!

• Mr. Wickham : Is Miss Bingley engaged to Mr. Darcy?

  Elizabeth Bennet : If she is, she ought to break it.

  Mr. Wickham : Why?

  Elizabeth Bennet : No man can be in love and look so bored!

• Mr. Wickham : Shall I offer a remark on the weather?

  Elizabeth Bennet : If you can make it fit for a young lady's ears.

• Jane Bennet : I like Mr. Bingley better. Mr. Darcy is so...

  Elizabeth Bennet : So supercilious. My goodness! He does have an air about him.

• Elizabeth Bennet : Oh, why is England cursed with so many more women than men?

• Mr. Wickham : Ahh! Polka mazurka! I didn't expect to find Meryton abreast with the new fashion!

  Elizabeth Bennet : You underrate us, Mr. Wickham. Meryton is abreast with everything. Everything except insolence and bad manners. Those London fashions we do not admire.

• Elizabeth Bennet : The man must be mad.

  Mr. Wickham : Mad? You're too charitable, Miss Elizabeth.

• Mrs. Bennet : Now, Jane, don't forget what I told you. Don't be too distant with him, and, be sure to laugh when he makes a joke.

  Mr. Bennet : Yes, even if it's a bad one.

  Elizabeth Bennet : Especially if it's a bad one.

• Caroline Bingley : I must know. Pray explain what the two motives might be, Mr. Darcy.

  Mr. Darcy : I've not the smallest objection to explaining.

  [explaining Caroline's motives on why she asked Mr. Darcy to walk with her and Elizabeth] 

  Mr. Darcy : Either you have secret affairs to discuss, or, you are conscious that your figures show to the greatest advantage while walking. In the first case, I should be completely in your way. And, in the second, I can admire you much better from where I am.

  Caroline Bingley : Perfectly abominable! What shall we do to punish him, Miss Eliza?

  Elizabeth Bennet : As you know him so well, I shall leave his punishment to you.

• Caroline Bingley : Oh, you didn't come alone, I hope.

  Elizabeth Bennet : All alone.

  Caroline Bingley : But how shocking!

• Mrs. Bennet : Oh! And, Jane, if Mr. Bingley should suggest a stroll before dinner, don't refuse. For instance, they just delightfully secluded walks in those shrubberies around that field.

  Jane Bennet : Yes, Mama.

  Elizabeth Bennet : [looking up at the storm clouds approaching]  There won't be much strolling today, Mama.

  Mrs. Bennet : Oh, dear me! I'm afraid you're right! Oh! And I had such hopes for those shrubberies!

• Elizabeth Bennet : I'm not a great reader and I have pleasure in many frivolous things.

• Elizabeth Bennet : Are you a good shot with the bow and arrow, Mr. Darcy?

  Mr. Darcy : Tolerable.

  Elizabeth Bennet : Only - tolerable?

  Mr. Darcy : Well, it's a fine old sport. And one in which even a young lady can become proficient.

  Elizabeth Bennet : So I've heard.

  Mr. Darcy : At a short range, of course. And, with a light bow.

• Caroline Bingley : What can you expect of one of his low descent?

  Elizabeth Bennet : I will tell you exactly of what I expect. Kindness. Honor. Generosity. Truthfulness. And, I might add that I expect precisely the same from persons of high descent.

• Elizabeth Bennet : Thank you, Mr. Darcy. You saved me from one of the most dangerous bores in the country.

  Mr. Darcy : If the dragon returns, Saint George will know how to deal with him.

• Elizabeth Bennet : Such a gay dance, the reel!

• Mr. Collins : I must, therefore, attribute your refusal of me to your wish of increasing my love by suspense! Which is, I'm told, the usual practice of elegant females!

  Elizabeth Bennet : Believe me, sir! I am not one of those elegant females who takes pleasure in tormenting a respectable man. I am a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.

• Elizabeth Bennet : Lady Catherine, I think it would be very hard on younger sisters to be kept without society or amusement until the elder ones were married. It would hardly promote sisterly affection or even delicacy of mind.

  Lady Catherine de Bourgh : Upon my word, Miss Bennet! You express your opinions very decidedly.

• Mr. Darcy : Miss Elizabeth, I have thought a great deal of what you said to me at Netherfield that day - thank you - about laughing more. I've tried to follow your advice.

  Elizabeth Bennet : I hope it worked. Do you feel happier now?

  Mr. Darcy : I've never felt more miserable in my life.

  Elizabeth Bennet : It's doubtless the lack of exercise. You'll feel happier when the hunting season begins.

• Mr. Darcy : Oh, don't stop, Miss Elizabeth. That was charming!

  Elizabeth Bennet : Isn't that the right time to stop when people still think you're charming? If I went on, you might change your mind.

• Elizabeth Bennet : What does it matter where we go? As long as we go together!

  Jane Bennet : Yes, Mama. We'll make a little world of our own.

  Mr. Bennet : Yes! A Bennet Utopia, my dear! A domestic paradise, where nobody shall ever talk more than is strictly necessary.

• Elizabeth Bennet : Goodbye, Lady Catherine.

  Lady Catherine de Bourgh : I take no leave of you, Miss Bennet. I send no compliments to your mother! You deserve no such attention! I am seriously displeased!

• Mr. Darcy : Whatever I did, I thought only of you.

  Elizabeth Bennet : Oh, Mr. Darcy! When I think of how I've misjudged you!

• Lady Catherine de Bourgh : Miss Bennet, a report has reached me of a most alarming nature. I was told that you, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, was shortly to be engaged to my nephew, Mr. Darcy. Of course, I could not believe this report could possibly be true. Nevertheless, I immediately resolved upon setting out to see you.

  Elizabeth Bennet : If it could not possibly be true, madam, I wonder you gave yourself the trouble of coming so far.

  Lady Catherine de Bourgh : I came to insist upon the report being universally contradicted.

  Elizabeth Bennet : But won't your coming here seem rather to confirm it?

• Lady Catherine de Bourgh : But remember this: marry him and you will be poor.

  Elizabeth Bennet : That would be no novelty for me, Lady Catherine.

  Lady Catherine de Bourgh : Once and for all, are you engaged to him?

  Elizabeth Bennet : No, I am not.

  Lady Catherine de Bourgh : Ah. And, uh, will you promise me never to enter into such an engagement?

  Elizabeth Bennet : No, I will not.

• Elizabeth Bennet : Thank you for telling me, Lady Catherine. Thank you.

  Lady Catherine de Bourgh : I will not be thanked. Let us have no more of this mummery, Miss Bennet. I shall not leave this house until you have given me the assurance for which I ask.

  Elizabeth Bennet : In that case, Lady Catherine, I had better ring for the butler. He will show you to your bedroom. Or, if you decide after all, not to stay, he will conduct you to your carriage.