- Mrs. Bennet: Look at them! Five of them without dowries. What's to become of them?
- Mr. Bennet: Yes, what's to become of the wretched creatures? Perhaps we should have drowned some of them at birth.
- Mr. Bennet: An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins. And I will never see you again if you do.
- 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: Yes, she looks tolerable enough, but I am in no humor tonight to give consequence to the middle classes at play.
- 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.
- Caroline Bingley: ...and her sisters Jane and Elizabeth were seen running down Market Street in an attempt to escape their disgrace. Isn't that exquisitely funny, Mr. Darcy?
- Mr. Darcy: Exquisitely. Just think how you would roar with laughter if it happened to yourself.
- Mary Bennet: Did you tell him you had five daughters, Papa?
- Mr. Bennet: Well, I told him if he ran into five of the silliest girls in England, they would be my daughters!
- Mr. Bennet: Well, we're hoping Elizabeth can manage to catch a cold of her own and stay long enough to get engaged to Mr. Darcy. Then, if a good snowstorm could be arranged, we'd send Kitty over. But if a young man should happen to be in the house - a young man who likes singing, of course, who can discuss philosophy - Mary could go. Then, if a dashing young soldier in a handsome uniform should appear for Lydia, everything would be perfect, my dear.
- 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.
- Lady Catherine de Bourgh: You must learn, Mrs. Collins, to draw a firm line between the deserving poor and the undeserving.
- 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.
- Lydia Bennet: Has anybody heard how Jane is this morning?
- Mrs. Bennet: Eh, Mr. Bingley sent a note over by his groom. She's much better. Such a happy idea of mine sending her off in the rain.
- Mr. Bennet: Yes, but to Jane must go all the credit for having caught the cold, my dear.
- Caroline Bingley: [observing the Bennet family at the party at Netherfield] Entertaining the rustics is not as difficult as I feared. Any simple, childish game seems to amuse them excessively.
- Mary Bennet: Look, Mama! I have just purchased Burke's essay on the sublime and beautiful!
- Mrs. Bennet: You and your books! No wonder you're compelled to wear disfiguring glasses!
- 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!
- Caroline Bingley: Did you ever see such people, Mr. Darcy? Really! I think my brother ought to apologize for bringing us to a place like this! He is so dreadful and undiscriminating. He seems to be able to enjoy himself in any society.
- 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.
- Mrs. Bennet: My dear, you flatter me. When a woman has five grown-up daughters, she ought to give over thinking of her own beauty.
- Lady Lucas: He's one of the Darcy's of Pemberley.
- Mrs. Bennet: Oh, Mr. Darcy of Pemberley. Is that all you know about him?
- Lady Lucas: Oh, you mean is he married? No, dear, no. He isn't married.
- 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.
- Mrs. Collins: Lady Catherine! Lady Catherine! What an honor for this humble house!
- Lady Catherine de Bourgh: No honor was intended, Mr. Collins.
- 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.
- 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.
- Caroline Bingley: A waltz, Mr. Darcy.
- Mr. Darcy: Yes.
- Caroline Bingley: How modern.
- Mr. Darcy: Yes, indeed.
- Jane Bennet: I like Mr. Bingley better. Mr. Darcy is so...
- Elizabeth Bennet: So supercilious. My goodness! He does have an air about him.
- Mrs. Bennet: Mr. Bingley, we're all so delighted that you've taken Netherfield. Having it standing empty was a lost to the whole neighborhood. Like an oyster shell without an oyster in it.
- Mr. Bingley: Well, here is the oyster, Madame. But, if I may be permitted to say so, it is you who have the pearl!
- [looks at Jane]
- Mrs. Bennet: Charming! Charming! Oh, ah, Jane dear, why don't you say something to Mr. Bingley?
- Jane Bennet: Good evening, sir.
- Mrs. Bennet: Ah, Lydia! Lydia, there's perspiration on your nose. Don't look so hot. It's very unladylike.
- Mr. Bingley: The place is full of pretty girls!
- Mr. Darcy: I have noticed only one and you seemed to have monopolized her.
- Mr. Bingley: Yes, isn't she lovely? But, there's that sister of hers, Miss Elizabeth. They say she has quite a lively wit.
- Mr. Darcy: Ugh! A provincial young lady with a lively wit. Heaven preserve us!
- Charlotte Lucas: Oh! Praise heavens! I have this dance engaged with Col. Stubbs. He's never learned the steps but he likes the exercise. And, it gets me away from the wall.
- Caroline Bingley: You must come over to Netherfield one day. I should be so bored.
- Jane Bennet: What?
- Caroline Bingley: Oh, you know! We're new out here in the wilderness.
- Mrs. Bennet: Dear, try to sit where he can see you in profile. You know, dear, although I say I shouldn't, you have the loveliest profile in all Hampshire.
- 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.
- Sir William Lucas: Dancing is a charming amusement for young people. In my opinion, it's one of the first refinements of a polite society.
- Mr. Darcy: It has the added advantage, sir, of being one of the first refinements of savages. Every Huttentot can dance.
- Sir William Lucas: Oh, yes. Yes. Quite so.
- 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: No one can really be esteemed accomplished, unless, you have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, dancing, and, the modern languages. Besides, she must also possess a certain something in the tone of her voice, in her address, in her expressions, as well as, in her figure and carriage.
- 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!