--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I've never got on very well with Jane…" description: "\"I've never got on very well with Jane Austen.\" — Anita Brookner" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/anita-brookner-8550_austen_i-ve-never-got-on-very-well-with-jane-au_1312816.jpg" --- # I've never got on very well with Jane Austen. ![“I've never got on very well with Jane Austen.” quote by Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/anita-brookner-8550_austen_i-ve-never-got-on-very-well-with-jane-au_1312816.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/anita-brookner-8550_austen_i-ve-never-got-on-very-well-with-jane-au_1312816.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/anita-brookner-8550_austen_i-ve-never-got-on-very-well-with-jane-au_1312816.jpg) > “I've never got on very well with Jane Austen.” [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker admits a personal disconnect with Jane Austen's work or style. **In simple terms:** I don't connect with Jane Austen. Key Takeaway Explore why certain literature doesn't resonate. Themes literature personal taste disconnection Mood neutral curious Type personal reflective When to use this quote - reading clubs - academic study - personal reflection Key Concepts aesthetic preference authorial style Questions to Reflect On - What aspects of Austen's writing feel alien? - How can you find value in unfamiliar literature? A Different Perspective Not all classic authors appeal to everyone. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/austen/) [Got](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/got/) [Jane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jane/) [Jane austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jane-austen/) [Never](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/never/) [Very](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/very/) [Well](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/well/) ## Related quotes > [The difficulty with poetry is that it doesn't have the life that Shakespeare or Jane Austen have beyond the page. You can't make a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/the-difficulty-with-poetry-is-that-it-doesn-t-have-the-life-that/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [I'm totally in love with Jane Austen and have always been in love with Jane Austen. I did my dissertation at university on black…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomie-harris/i-m-totally-in-love-with-jane-austen-and-have-always-been-in-love/) [Naomie Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomie-harris/) > [If I hadn't read all of Jane Austen and DH Lawrence, Tolstoy and Proust, as well as the more fun stuff, I wouldn't know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-faulks/if-i-hadn-t-read-all-of-jane-austen-and-dh-lawrence-tolstoy-and/) [Sebastian Faulks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-faulks/) > [If you look at my personal library, you will notice that it ranges from Henry James to Steig Larsson, from Margaret Atwood to Max…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-bohjalian/if-you-look-at-my-personal-library-you-will-notice-that-it-ranges/) [Chris Bohjalian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-bohjalian/) > [Am I overjoyed when somebody says, 'Oh, we're going to do another Jane Austen?' No - because there's never anything in it for me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/art-malik/am-i-overjoyed-when-somebody-says-oh-we-re-going-to-do-another-jane/) [Art Malik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/art-malik/) > [I did a cover for 'Rolling Stone' the other day and it was a kind of crazy lack of outfit. I thought, 'Oh, Lord.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-mcgowan/i-did-a-cover-for-rolling-stone-the-other-day-and-it-was-a-kind-of/) [Rose McGowan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-mcgowan/) > [Because I had grown up with Jane Austen novels and period dramas, I was very familiar with that period and that world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gugu-mbatha-raw/because-i-had-grown-up-with-jane-austen-novels-and-period-dramas-i/) [Gugu Mbatha-Raw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gugu-mbatha-raw/) > [I'm a Jane Austen/Jane Eyre kind of girl.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-grace/i-m-a-jane-austen-jane-eyre-kind-of-girl/) [Maggie Grace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-grace/) > [What I'd love to do would be to bring a person from the past to me. In that case I'd pick Jane Austen, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-beverley/what-i-d-love-to-do-would-be-to-bring-a-person-from-the-past-to-me-in/) [Jo Beverley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-beverley/) > [I always say that the characters in Jane Austen's original books are rather like zombies because they live in this bubble of immense wealth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-grahame-smith/i-always-say-that-the-characters-in-jane-austen-s-original-books-are/) [Seth Grahame-Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-grahame-smith/) > [No highbrow literary type would ever say 'Moby Dick' is good but it's just about a whale, or a Jane Austen would be important…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-hannah/no-highbrow-literary-type-would-ever-say-moby-dick-is-good-but-it-s/) [Sophie Hannah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-hannah/) > [When I was in my twenties, I strongly identified with Jane Austen's 'Emma' - her human failings mixed with a desire to do good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-foreman/when-i-was-in-my-twenties-i-strongly-identified-with-jane-austen-s/) [Amanda Foreman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-foreman/) > [ \[On Jane Austen:\] To believe her limited in range because she was harmonious in method is as sensible as to imagine that when the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/on-jane-austen-to-believe-her-limited-in-range-because-she-was/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [Look at Jane Austen. Her characters derive in a reasonably straight line from fairy tales.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-davies/look-at-jane-austen-her-characters-derive-in-a-reasonably-straight/) [Andrew Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-davies/) > [I actually didn't like Jane Austen. I was more into the Brontes. They were so wild and passionate. I thought there was something a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-o-connor/i-actually-didn-t-like-jane-austen-i-was-more-into-the-brontes-they/) [Frances O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-o-connor/) ## More by Anita Brookner > [If I were happy, married with six children, I wouldn't be writing. And I doubt if I should want to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/if-i-were-happy-married-with-six-children-i-wouldn-t-be-writing-and-i/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) > [You have no idea how promising the world begins to look once you have decided to have it all for yourself. And how much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/you-have-no-idea-how-promising-the-world-begins-to-look-once-you-have/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) > [I never learnt Hebrew because my health was fragile, and it was thought that learning Hebrew would be an added burden. I regret it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/i-never-learnt-hebrew-because-my-health-was-fragile-and-it-was/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) > [You can never betray the people who are dead, so you go on being a public Jew; the dead can't answer slurs, but I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/you-can-never-betray-the-people-who-are-dead-so-you-go-on-being-a/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) > [The essence of romantic love is that wonderful beginning, after which sadness and impossibility may become the rule.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/the-essence-of-romantic-love-is-that-wonderful-beginning-after-which/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) > [I need noise and interruptions and irritation: irritation and discomfort are a great starter. The loneliness of doing it any other way would kill…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/i-need-noise-and-interruptions-and-irritation-irritation-and/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) > [I am not a romantic. I am a domestic animal. I do not sigh and yearn for extravagant displays of passion, for the grand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/i-am-not-a-romantic-i-am-a-domestic-animal-i-do-not-sigh-and-yearn/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) > [A man of such obvious and exemplary charm must be a liar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/a-man-of-such-obvious-and-exemplary-charm-must-be-a-liar/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) > [“It seemed to me that I, rather than he, had brought this about, and my despair was extreme. For now that I knew that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/it-seemed-to-me-that-i-rather-than-he-had-brought-this-about-and-my/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) > [Always let them think of you as singing and dancing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/always-let-them-think-of-you-as-singing-and-dancing/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) > [I was brought up to look after my parents. My family were Polish Jews, and we lived with my grandmother, with uncles and aunts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/i-was-brought-up-to-look-after-my-parents-my-family-were-polish-jews/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) > [“We shall none of us ever make love again, she thought, and did not much care. Life had not been too harsh; the sea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/we-shall-none-of-us-ever-make-love-again-she-thought-and-did-not-much/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) > [I'm a middle-class, middle-brow novelist. And that's it. It amuses me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/i-m-a-middle-class-middle-brow-novelist-and-that-s-it-it-amuses-me/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) > [Good women always think it is their fault when someone else is being offensive. Bad women never take the blame for anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/good-women-always-think-it-is-their-fault-when-someone-else-is-being/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) > [There are moments when you feel free, moments when you have energy, moments when you have hope, but you can't rely on any of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/there-are-moments-when-you-feel-free-moments-when-you-have-energy/) [Anita Brookner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) [Explore all 77 Anita Brookner quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/) ## More Austen quotes > [The difficulty with poetry is that it doesn't have the life that Shakespeare or Jane Austen have beyond the page. You can't make a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/the-difficulty-with-poetry-is-that-it-doesn-t-have-the-life-that/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [Look at Jane Austen. Her characters derive in a reasonably straight line from fairy tales.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-davies/look-at-jane-austen-her-characters-derive-in-a-reasonably-straight/) [Andrew Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-davies/) > [“The celestial brightness of Pride and Prejudice is unequalled even in Jane Austen's other work; after a life of much disappointment and grief, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-jenkins/the-celestial-brightness-of-pride-and-prejudice-is-unequalled-even-in/) [Elizabeth Jenkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-jenkins/) > [It has been suggested that Tiptree is female, a theory that I find absurd, for there is to me something ineluctably masculine about Tiptree’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-silverberg/it-has-been-suggested-that-tiptree-is-female-a-theory-that-i-find/) [Robert Silverberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-silverberg/) > [Had Elizabeth Bennet known how wildly Darcy's heart beat for her, 'Pride and Prejudice' would barely have made it into a short story. Their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mariella-frostrup/had-elizabeth-bennet-known-how-wildly-darcy-s-heart-beat-for-her/) [Mariella Frostrup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mariella-frostrup/) > [ “\[Jane\] Austen was not a novelist for nothing: she knew that our stories are what make us human, and that listening to someone else's… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/jane-austen-was-not-a-novelist-for-nothing-she-knew-that-our-stories/) [William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/) > [I'm kind of a mash-up of taste - Graham Greene and Jane Austen; W.G. Sebald and Alice Munro.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-waldman/i-m-kind-of-a-mash-up-of-taste-graham-greene-and-jane-austen-w-g/) [Amy Waldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-waldman/) > [I'm sure I've been influenced by every fine writer I've ever read, from Dickens and Austen to Auden and Jane Hirshfield. And also, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-bloom/i-m-sure-i-ve-been-influenced-by-every-fine-writer-i-ve-ever-read/) [Amy Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-bloom/) > [“You know, somewhere a Jane Austen angel just lost her wings over you saying that.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nichole-van/you-know-somewhere-a-jane-austen-angel-just-lost-her-wings-over-you/) [Nichole Van](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nichole-van/) > [Great books are readable anyway. Dickens is readable. Jane Austen is readable. John Updike's readable. Hawthorne's readable. It's a meaningless term. You have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-barnes/great-books-are-readable-anyway-dickens-is-readable-jane-austen-is/) [Julian Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-barnes/) > [“Gratitude, not merely for having once loved her, but for loving her still well enough, to forgive all the petulance and acrimony of her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/gratitude-not-merely-for-having-once-loved-her-but-for-loving-her/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [I grew up on Jane Austen novels and was a massive literature fanatic when I was a kid - I read everything I could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georgia-king/i-grew-up-on-jane-austen-novels-and-was-a-massive-literature-fanatic/) [Georgia King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georgia-king/) > [“I don't care a whit for Society. I think people should only marry someone who can offer them some bit of affection. I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harper-st-george/i-don-t-care-a-whit-for-society-i-think-people-should-only-marry/) [Harper St. George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harper-st-george/) > [“Does everybody know everything in this town!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vaishnavi-nair-k/does-everybody-know-everything-in-this-town/) [Vaishnavi Nair K](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vaishnavi-nair-k/) > [“People don't say what they mean very often. You have to read between the lines of their behavior, of what they say, to get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-c-frank/people-don-t-say-what-they-mean-very-often-you-have-to-read-between/) [M.C. Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-c-frank/) [Browse all 292 Austen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/austen/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I've never got on very well with Jane Austen.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anita Brookner" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/i-ve-never-got-on-very-well-with-jane-austen/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Austen" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/i-ve-never-got-on-very-well-with-jane-austen/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/anita-brookner-8550_austen_i-ve-never-got-on-very-well-with-jane-au_1312816.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/anita-brookner-8550_austen_i-ve-never-got-on-very-well-with-jane-au_1312816.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/anita-brookner-8550_austen_i-ve-never-got-on-very-well-with-jane-au_1312816.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I've never got on very well with Jane Austen.” — Anita Brookner", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "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": "Anita Brookner", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-brookner/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I've never got on very well...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/i-ve-never-got-on-very-well-with-jane-austen/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-brookner/i-ve-never-got-on-very-well-with-jane-austen/#breadcrumb" }, { "@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 } } ] } ```