Pride and Prejudice (TV Mini Series)

Episode 1 (1995)

Alison Steadman: Mrs. Bennet

Quotes 

• Mrs. Bennet : Oh, Mr. Bennet, nothing you say shall ever vex me again.

  Mr. Bennet : I'm sorry to hear it.

• Mrs. Bennet : Oh, you take delight in vexing me! You have no compassion on my poor nerves!

  Mr. Bennet : You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They've been my old friends these 20 years at least.

• Miss Bingley : And now the mother! Are we to be invaded by every Bennet in the country? Oh, too much to be borne.

  Mr. Hurst : Oh, lord!

  [the door opens and Mrs. Bennet, Lizzy, Kitty and Lydia enter] 

  Mr. Bingley : Mrs. Bennet, you are very welcome.

  [He and Darcy bow] 

  Mr. Bingley : I hope you do not find Miss Bennet worse than you expected.

  Mrs. Bennet : Indeed I do, sir. She is very ill indeed, and suffers a vast deal...

  [Lizzy looks down, mortified; Bingley looks worried] 

  Mrs. Bennet : ...though with the greatest patience in the world, for she has the sweetest temper, Mr. Bingley. But she is a great deal too ill to be moved.

  [Bingley's sisters, off to the side, look furious at this imposition] 

  Mrs. Bennet : We must trespass, a little longer, on your kindness.

  Mr. Bingley : But of course.

  Miss Bingley : Miss Bennet will receive every possible attention, ma'am, I assure you.

  Mrs. Bennet : You are very good.

  [She laughs, and then immediately dismisses the matter of Jane's health] 

  Mrs. Bennet : Well, you have a sweet room here! I think you will never want to leave Netherfield, now you are come here.

  Mr. Bingley : I believe I should be happy to live in the country forever! Wouldn't you, Darcy?

  Mr. Darcy : You would? You don't find the society somewhat confined and unvarying for your taste?

  Mrs. Bennet : "Confined and unvarying?" Indeed, it is not, sir! The country is a vast deal pleasanter than town, whatever *you* may say about it!

  [Darcy turns his back and walks over to look out the window. Lizzy feels humiliated] 

  Elizabeth Bennet : Mama, you mistake Mr. Darcy's meaning.

  Mrs. Bennet : Do I? Do I? He seems to think the country nothing at all!

  Elizabeth Bennet : Mama!

  Mrs. Bennet : "Confined!" "Unvarying!" I would have him know we dine with four-and-twenty families!

  [the Bingley sisters try unsuccessfully to contain their sniggers; Bingley looks at them in anger and distress] 

• Mrs. Bennet : [Discussing Darcy]  He slighted poor Lizzy you know, flatly refused to stand up with her.

  Mr. Bennet : Slighted my Lizzy, did he?

  Elizabeth Bennet : I didn't care for him either, father, so it's of little matter.

• Elizabeth Bennet : For a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

  Mrs. Bennet : Yes, he must indeed! And who better than one of our five girls?

  Lydia Bennet : What a fine joke if he were to choose me!

  Kitty Bennet : Or me!

  [Lydia and Kitty laugh] 

  Jane Bennet : [Reprimanding]  Lydia!

• Mrs. Bennet : Did you ever meet such a proud, disagreeable man?

  Elizabeth Bennet : The very rich can afford to give offense wherever they go. We need not care for his good opinion.

  Mrs. Bennet : No, indeed.

  Elizabeth Bennet : Perhaps he is not so handsome after all...?

  Mrs. Bennet : Indeed not. Quite ill-favored.

• Mrs. Bennet : From Netherfield? Oh, Jane, well, what does it say?

  Jane Bennet : It's from Miss Bingley.

  Mrs. Bennet : Oh, well, that is a good sign, too. Give it to me! - My dear friend... there now... dine with Louisa and me today... la-di-da, la-di-da, la-di-da... as the gentlemen are to dine with the officers. - Oh, that's unlucky! Still you must go and make what you can out of it. - Yours ever, Caroline Bingley. - Very elegant hand.

  Jane Bennet : May I have the carriage, father?

  Mrs. Bennet : The carriage? No indeed! You must go on horseback for it looks like rain. Then you will have to stay the night!

  Jane Bennet : Mother!

  Mrs. Bennet : Oh, why do you look at me like that? Would you go all the way to Netherfield and back without seeing Mr. Bingley? No indeed. - You will go on Nellie, that will do very well, indeed.

• Mrs. Bennet : You have no compassion for my poor nerves.