---
title: "3 Austen Quotes By Howard Jacobson"
description: "3 Austen quotes by Howard Jacobson. Plus more from Howard Jacobson and more Austen sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e0/howard-jacobson-1484_darkness_no-good-writer-ever-merely-cheered-us-up_1256363.jpg"
---

> [No good writer ever merely cheered us up. But there's an unblinking stare into the darkness of things we have to go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/no-good-writer-ever-merely-cheered-us-up-but-there-s-an-unblinking/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e0/howard-jacobson-1484_darkness_no-good-writer-ever-merely-cheered-us-up_1256363.jpg)

> [I'm an old-fashioned English lit. man. Straight down the line - it's George Eliot, it's Dickens, it's Dr. Johnson, it's Jane Austen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/i-m-an-old-fashioned-english-lit-man-straight-down-the-line-it-s/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34d/howard-jacobson-1484_austen_i-m-an-old-fashioned-english-lit-man-str_2613943.jpg)

> [I'm a Jewish Jane Austen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/i-m-a-jewish-jane-austen/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e06/howard-jacobson-1484_austen_i-m-a-jewish-jane-austen-2881168_2881168.jpg)

## Other authors on Austen

## More by Howard Jacobson

> [Everything is allowable in literature, but what is not allowable in criticism is objection on the grounds of probability.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/everything-is-allowable-in-literature-but-what-is-not-allowable-in/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

> [There's a simple arithmetical logic at work. Build more unaffordable and not always architecturally sympathetic apartments, watch the rents rise, the tarts leave, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/there-s-a-simple-arithmetical-logic-at-work-build-more-unaffordable/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

> [The novel is a thing of irony and ambiguity. That's at the heart of 'J', a world that has stopped arguing with itself. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/the-novel-is-a-thing-of-irony-and-ambiguity-that-s-at-the-heart-of-j/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

> [I was a 'reverence for life' man - 'see life steadily and see it whole' - in my days as a lecturer in English…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/i-was-a-reverence-for-life-man-see-life-steadily-and-see-it-whole-in/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

> [How Donald Trump has come so far with so few words - how he even managed to keep up conversationally with all those beauty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/how-donald-trump-has-come-so-far-with-so-few-words-how-he-even/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

> [It is a nonsense to me when people come along and tell me not to be pessimistic; or that culture has always been going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/it-is-a-nonsense-to-me-when-people-come-along-and-tell-me-not-to-be/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

> [For me a Writing Day was an occasion for self-reproach and panic, a time to lament the passing of the years, stare out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/for-me-a-writing-day-was-an-occasion-for-self-reproach-and-panic-a/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

> [Even the wordiest of men know there's a time to button it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/even-the-wordiest-of-men-know-there-s-a-time-to-button-it/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

> [That a nation's statuary will reflect beliefs and attitudes that are no longer current or congenial hardly needs arguing. In most instances, it doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/that-a-nation-s-statuary-will-reflect-beliefs-and-attitudes-that-are/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

> [“Was he a bad man or just a foolish one? He didn't feel bad to himself. As a husband he believed himself to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/was-he-a-bad-man-or-just-a-foolish-one-he-didn-t-feel-bad-to-himself/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

> [The young come in many guises: vigorous and passionate, vindictive and mean-spirited. And not every person over 65 is dozing in a retirement home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/the-young-come-in-many-guises-vigorous-and-passionate-vindictive-and/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

> [To a philosopher like Nietzsche, the Jew is culpable not for rejecting Christianity but for inventing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/to-a-philosopher-like-nietzsche-the-jew-is-culpable-not-for-rejecting/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

> [Shakespeare's always been sitting on my back, since I began reading. And, certainly, as a writer, he's who I hear all the time. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/shakespeare-s-always-been-sitting-on-my-back-since-i-began-reading/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

> [A novelist should make you realize nothing is stable. If you don't believe anything with robustness, you're doing something more radical than anything else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/a-novelist-should-make-you-realize-nothing-is-stable-if-you-don-t/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

> [The Stop The War Coalition is a sort of home to Jew-haters because its hate music about Israel is so catchy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/the-stop-the-war-coalition-is-a-sort-of-home-to-jew-haters-because/)

[Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/austen/howard-jacobson/#itemlist",
            "name": "3 Austen Quotes By Howard Jacobson",
            "numberOfItems": 3,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "No good writer ever merely cheered us up. But there's an unblinking stare into the darkness of things we have to go elsewhere to find. Jane Austen was made of strong stuff. She was too satiric for D. H. Lawrence's taste and too unforgiving for Kingsley Amis's, but you would still not call her hellish.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Howard Jacobson"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/no-good-writer-ever-merely-cheered-us-up-but-there-s-an-unblinking/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e0/howard-jacobson-1484_darkness_no-good-writer-ever-merely-cheered-us-up_1256363.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e0/howard-jacobson-1484_darkness_no-good-writer-ever-merely-cheered-us-up_1256363.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e0/howard-jacobson-1484_darkness_no-good-writer-ever-merely-cheered-us-up_1256363.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“No good writer ever merely cheered us up. But there's an unblinking stare into the darkness of things we…” — Howard Jacobson",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "I'm an old-fashioned English lit. man. Straight down the line - it's George Eliot, it's Dickens, it's Dr. Johnson, it's Jane Austen.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Howard Jacobson"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/i-m-an-old-fashioned-english-lit-man-straight-down-the-line-it-s/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34d/howard-jacobson-1484_austen_i-m-an-old-fashioned-english-lit-man-str_2613943.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34d/howard-jacobson-1484_austen_i-m-an-old-fashioned-english-lit-man-str_2613943.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34d/howard-jacobson-1484_austen_i-m-an-old-fashioned-english-lit-man-str_2613943.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“I'm an old-fashioned English lit. man. Straight down the line - it's George Eliot, it's Dickens, it's Dr…” — Howard Jacobson",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "I'm a Jewish Jane Austen.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Howard Jacobson"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/i-m-a-jewish-jane-austen/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e06/howard-jacobson-1484_austen_i-m-a-jewish-jane-austen-2881168_2881168.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e06/howard-jacobson-1484_austen_i-m-a-jewish-jane-austen-2881168_2881168.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e06/howard-jacobson-1484_austen_i-m-a-jewish-jane-austen-2881168_2881168.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“I'm a Jewish Jane Austen.” — Howard Jacobson",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/austen/howard-jacobson/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/austen/howard-jacobson/",
            "name": "Austen Quotes by Howard Jacobson",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/austen/howard-jacobson/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e0/howard-jacobson-1484_darkness_no-good-writer-ever-merely-cheered-us-up_1256363.jpg"
            },
            "description": "3 Austen quotes by Howard Jacobson. Plus more from Howard Jacobson and more Austen sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/austen/howard-jacobson/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/austen/howard-jacobson/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Austen",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/austen/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Howard Jacobson",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/austen/howard-jacobson/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```