--- title: "7 Austen Quotes By Virginia Woolf" description: "7 Austen quotes by Virginia Woolf. Plus more from Virginia Woolf and more Austen sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe4/virginia-woolf-49_quote_when-you-asked-me-to-speak-about-women-a_313705.jpg" --- > [“When you asked me to speak about women and fiction I sat down on the banks of a river and began to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/when-you-asked-me-to-speak-about-women-and-fiction-i-sat-down-on-the/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe4/virginia-woolf-49_quote_when-you-asked-me-to-speak-about-women-a_313705.jpg) > [ Anyone who has the temerity to write about Jane Austen is aware of \[two\] facts: first, that of all great writers she… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/anyone-who-has-the-temerity-to-write-about-jane-austen-is-aware-of/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cde/virginia-woolf-49_aunt_anyone-who-has-the-temerity-to-write-abo_526627.jpg) > [Here was a woman about the year 1800 writing without hate, without bitterness, without fear, without protest, without preaching. That was how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/here-was-a-woman-about-the-year-1800-writing-without-hate-without/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d58/virginia-woolf-49_antony_here-was-a-woman-about-the-year-1800-wri_745857.jpg) > [Without those forerunners, Jane Austen and the Brontes and George Eliot could no more have written than Shakespeare could have written without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/without-those-forerunners-jane-austen-and-the-brontes-and-george/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59e/virginia-woolf-49_austen_without-those-forerunners-jane-austen-an_1354342.jpg) > [Who would not spout the family teapot in order to talk with Keats for an hour about poetry, or with Jane Austen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/who-would-not-spout-the-family-teapot-in-order-to-talk-with-keats-for/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f53/virginia-woolf-49_art_who-would-not-spout-the-family-teapot-in_1960818.jpg) > [It was strange to think that all the great women of fiction were, until Jane Austen's day, not only seen by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/it-was-strange-to-think-that-all-the-great-women-of-fiction-were/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a5e/virginia-woolf-49_austen_it-was-strange-to-think-that-all-the-gre_2067638.jpg) > [“(Jane Austen) is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/jane-austen-is-the-most-difficult-to-catch-in-the-act-of-greatness/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/691/virginia-woolf-49_austen_jane-austen-is-the-most-difficult-to-cat_2974450.jpg) ## Other authors on Austen ## More by Virginia Woolf > [Fatigue is the safest sleeping draught.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/fatigue-is-the-safest-sleeping-draught/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“The train slows and lengthens, as we approach London, the centre, and my heart draws out too, in fear, in exaltation. I am about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-train-slows-and-lengthens-as-we-approach-london-the-centre-and-my/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“Across the broad continent of a woman's life falls the shadow of a sword. On one side all is correct, definite, orderly; the paths…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/across-the-broad-continent-of-a-woman-s-life-falls-the-shadow-of-a/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“Other worshipful objects were content with worship; men, women, God, all let one kneel prostrate; but this form, were it only the shape of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/other-worshipful-objects-were-content-with-worship-men-women-god-all/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [Why does Samuel Butler say, 'Wise men never say what they think of women'? Wise men never say anything else apparently.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/why-does-samuel-butler-say-wise-men-never-say-what-they-think-of/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“Sometimes he woke with a brain like lead; at others it was as if a thousand wax tapers were alight and people were throwing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/sometimes-he-woke-with-a-brain-like-lead-at-others-it-was-as-if-a/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [The extraordinary woman depends on the ordinary woman. It is only when we know what were the conditions of the average woman's life -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-extraordinary-woman-depends-on-the-ordinary-woman-it-is-only-when/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [A veil of insanity everywhere: Oh why I was born in this age? It is a terrible age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/a-veil-of-insanity-everywhere-oh-why-i-was-born-in-this-age-it-is-a/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [Love ought to stop on both sides, don’t you think, simultaneously?’ He spoke without any stress on the words, so as not to wake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/love-ought-to-stop-on-both-sides-don-t-you-think-simultaneously-he/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“It is so vast an alleviation to be able to point for another to look at. And then not to talk. To follow the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/it-is-so-vast-an-alleviation-to-be-able-to-point-for-another-to-look/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“What a vast fertility of pleasure books hold for me! (...) I think I could happily live here & read forever.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/what-a-vast-fertility-of-pleasure-books-hold-for-me-i-think-i-could/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“what a luxury to be alone once more,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/what-a-luxury-to-be-alone-once-more/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“...a woman writing thinks back through her mothers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/a-woman-writing-thinks-back-through-her-mothers/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“For one's children so often gave one's own perceptions a little thrust forwards.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/for-one-s-children-so-often-gave-one-s-own-perceptions-a-little/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“She would not say of anyone in the world now that they were this or were that. She felt very young; at the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/she-would-not-say-of-anyone-in-the-world-now-that-they-were-this-or/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/austen/virginia-woolf/#itemlist", "name": "7 Austen Quotes By Virginia Woolf", "numberOfItems": 7, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“When you asked me to speak about women and fiction I sat down on the banks of a river and began to wonder what the words meant. 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