“ Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief. ”
Jane Austen, Emma (1815). copy citation
| Author | Jane Austen |
|---|---|
| Source | Emma |
| Topic | weakness vanity mischief |
| Date | 1815 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/158/158-h/158-h.htm |
Context
“«I have always thought it a very foolish intimacy,» said Mr. Knightley presently, «though I have kept my thoughts to myself; but I now perceive that it will be a very unfortunate one for Harriet. You will puff her up with such ideas of her own beauty, and of what she has a claim to, that, in a little while, nobody within her reach will be good enough for her. Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief. Nothing so easy as for a young lady to raise her expectations too high. Miss Harriet Smith may not find offers of marriage flow in so fast, though she is a very pretty girl. Men of sense, whatever you may chuse to say, do not want silly wives.”
source
Meaning and analysis
