---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I am afraid that the pleasantness of an…"
description: "\"I am afraid that the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.\" — Jane Austen"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e28/jane-austen-39_employment_i-am-afraid-that-the-pleasantness-of-an_774636.jpg"
---

#  I am afraid that the pleasantness of an employment does…

![“I am afraid that the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.” quote by Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e28/jane-austen-39_employment_i-am-afraid-that-the-pleasantness-of-an_774636.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e28/jane-austen-39_employment_i-am-afraid-that-the-pleasantness-of-an_774636.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e28/jane-austen-39_employment_i-am-afraid-that-the-pleasantness-of-an_774636.jpg)

> “I am afraid that the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.”

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

A pleasant job may hide moral flaws, so appearance can be deceptive.

**In simple terms:** Nice jobs can be unethical.

Key Takeaway

Evaluate character, not just comfort.

Themes

ethics employment perception

Mood

cautious serious

Type

literary ethical

When to use this quote

- job selection
- career advice
- organizational ethics

Key Concepts

Moral philosophy social critique

Questions to Reflect On

- What signs reveal a job’s true nature?
- How do you prioritize integrity over comfort?

A Different Perspective

Pleasant work may still be right.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Employment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/employment/) [Pleasantness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasantness/) [Propriety](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/propriety/)

## Related quotes

> [“...the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/the-pleasantness-of-an-employment-does-not-always-evince-its-propriety/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [“The pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety. -Sense and Sensibility”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/the-pleasantness-of-an-employment-does-not-always-evince-its/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [Full employment does not mean literally no unemployment; that is to say, it does not mean that every man and woman in the country…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-beveridge/full-employment-does-not-mean-literally-no-unemployment-that-is-to/)

[William Beveridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-beveridge/)

> [I am sure," cried Catherine, "I did not mean to say anything wrong; but it is a nice book, and why should not I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-am-sure-cried-catherine-i-did-not-mean-to-say-anything-wrong-but-it/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [You are mistaken, Mr. Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way, than as it spared…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/you-are-mistaken-mr-darcy-if-you-suppose-that-the-mode-of-your-2/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [While truth is always bitter, pleasantness waits upon evildoing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-jerome/while-truth-is-always-bitter-pleasantness-waits-upon-evildoing/)

[St. Jerome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-jerome/)

> [“A confident woman wears a smile and has this air of comfortability and pleasantness about her.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agu-jaachynma-n-e/a-confident-woman-wears-a-smile-and-has-this-air-of-comfortability/)

[Agu Jaachynma N.E](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agu-jaachynma-n-e/)

> [Pleasantness was the machismo of the Midwest. There was something athletic about it. You flexed your face into a smile and let it hover…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorrie-moore/pleasantness-was-the-machismo-of-the-midwest-there-was-something/)

[Lorrie Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorrie-moore/)

> [“your success in the world depends essentially on how well you harness the prowess of the body and mind. So, in order to achieve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sadhguru/your-success-in-the-world-depends-essentially-on-how-well-you-harness/)

[Sadhguru](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sadhguru/)

> [“There was a pleasantness to the air and a spirit about the town that did not come from its color, but from some inner,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-carriger/there-was-a-pleasantness-to-the-air-and-a-spirit-about-the-town-that/)

[gail carriger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-carriger/)

> [My favorite thing to wear is a smile!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorinda-frankenberry/my-favorite-thing-to-wear-is-a-smile/)

Lorinda Frankenberry

> [“becomes pleasant, we call this peace. If it becomes very pleasant, we call this joy. If your emotions become pleasant, we call this love.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sadhguru/becomes-pleasant-we-call-this-peace-if-it-becomes-very-pleasant-we/)

[Sadhguru](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sadhguru/)

> [“Optimism: That effervescent, blindingly- bright, perky, chipper, twittering quality you want to squash out of annoying people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richelle-e-goodrich/optimism-that-effervescent-blindingly-bright-perky-chipper-twittering/)

[Richelle E. Goodrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-e-goodrich/)

> [The paths of virtue, though seldom those of worldly greatness, are always those of pleasantness and peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-scott/the-paths-of-virtue-though-seldom-those-of-worldly-greatness-are/)

[Walter Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-scott/)

> [It is our daily duty to consider that in all circumstances of life, pleasurable, painful, or otherwise, the conduct of others, especially of those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-hunt/it-is-our-daily-duty-to-consider-that-in-all-circumstances-of-life/)

[Leigh Hunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-hunt/)

## More by Jane Austen

> [Let us have the luxury of silence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/let-us-have-the-luxury-of-silence/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [“How earnestly did she then wish that her former opinions had been more reasonable, more moderate!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/how-earnestly-did-she-then-wish-that-her-former-opinions-had-been/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [“it is very well worth-while to be tormented for two or three years of one's life, for the sake of being able to read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/it-is-very-well-worth-while-to-be-tormented-for-two-or-three-years-of/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [ “Everybody is taken in at some period or another. \[...\] In marriage especially. \[...\] There is not one in a hundred of either sex,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/everybody-is-taken-in-at-some-period-or-another-in-marriage/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [She knew that what Marianne and her mother conjectured one moment, they believed the next: that with them, to wish was to hope, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/she-knew-that-what-marianne-and-her-mother-conjectured-one-moment/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [“…for I look upon the Frasers to be about as unhappy as most other married people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/for-i-look-upon-the-frasers-to-be-about-as-unhappy-as-most-other/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [“It raises my spleen more than any thing, to have the pretence of being asked, of being given a choice, and at the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/it-raises-my-spleen-more-than-any-thing-to-have-the-pretence-of-being/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [her spirits wanted the solitude and silence which only numbers could give.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/her-spirits-wanted-the-solitude-and-silence-which-only-numbers-could/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [“But in such cases as these a good memory is unpardonable.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/but-in-such-cases-as-these-a-good-memory-is-unpardonable/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [“...the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/the-pleasantness-of-an-employment-does-not-always-evince-its-propriety/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [Such squeamish youths as cannot bear to be connected with a little absurdity are not worth a regret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/such-squeamish-youths-as-cannot-bear-to-be-connected-with-a-little/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [“I must tell you what you will not ask, though I may wish it unsaid the next moment”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-must-tell-you-what-you-will-not-ask-though-i-may-wish-it-unsaid-the/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [“Lady Catherine seemed quite astonished at not receiving a direct answer; and Elizabeth suspected herself to be the first creature who had ever dared…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/lady-catherine-seemed-quite-astonished-at-not-receiving-a-direct/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [“He had suffered, and he had learnt to think, two advantages that he had never known before…”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/he-had-suffered-and-he-had-learnt-to-think-two-advantages-that-he-had/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [“Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Eliot's character; vanity of person and of situation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/vanity-was-the-beginning-and-the-end-of-sir-walter-eliot-s-character/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

[Explore all 2,013 Jane Austen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

## More Employment quotes

> [“Poor people do not go on holiday; they go home.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/poor-people-do-not-go-on-holiday-they-go-home/)

[Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/)

> [“Time wasted can never be compensated”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/time-wasted-can-never-be-compensated/)

[Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/)

> [“There is no interaction without God with interaction with men”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/there-is-no-interaction-without-god-with-interaction-with-men/)

[Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/)

> [“It's no accident that in a bureaucracy getting fired is called 'termination,' as in ontological erasure.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/it-s-no-accident-that-in-a-bureaucracy-getting-fired-is-called/)

[David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/)

> [“Work is a vehicle with which man chases some fleeting destination called a full tummy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/work-is-a-vehicle-with-which-man-chases-some-fleeting-destination/)

[Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/)

> [“Your calling multiplies you”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/your-calling-multiplies-you/)

[Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/)

> [“Employment is an employee’s kissing of an employer’s ass. A salary is the employer’s pretense to be cleaning his ass.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/employment-is-an-employee-s-kissing-of-an-employer-s-ass-a-salary-is/)

[Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/)

> [“...the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/the-pleasantness-of-an-employment-does-not-always-evince-its-propriety/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [Will capitalist economies operate at full employment in the absence of routine intervention? Certainly not. Are deviations from full employment a social problem? Obviously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-yellen/will-capitalist-economies-operate-at-full-employment-in-the-absence/)

[Janet Yellen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-yellen/)

> [“For their never-ending endeavours to obtain or retain wealth, countries desperately need companies, because they—unlike most human beings—have the means of production, and human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/for-their-never-ending-endeavours-to-obtain-or-retain-wealth/)

[Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/)

> [“Time is the source of all things”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/time-is-the-source-of-all-things/)

[Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/)

> [In a world where lifelong employment in the same job is a thing of the past, creativity is not a luxury. It is essential…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-robinson/in-a-world-where-lifelong-employment-in-the-same-job-is-a-thing-of/)

[Ken Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-robinson/)

> [“Time is a running factor; once it goes, it cannot be reclaimed”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/time-is-a-running-factor-once-it-goes-it-cannot-be-reclaimed/)

[Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/)

> [“Money is created from time”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/money-is-created-from-time/)

[Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/)

> [As the president of Kosovo, I am more concerned about the current situation with the employment standing at around 70 % of the population,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibrahim-rugova/as-the-president-of-kosovo-i-am-more-concerned-about-the-current/)

[Ibrahim Rugova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibrahim-rugova/)

[Browse all 1,829 Employment quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/employment/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "I am afraid that the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Jane Austen"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-am-afraid-that-the-pleasantness-of-an-employment-does-not-always/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Employment"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-am-afraid-that-the-pleasantness-of-an-employment-does-not-always/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e28/jane-austen-39_employment_i-am-afraid-that-the-pleasantness-of-an_774636.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e28/jane-austen-39_employment_i-am-afraid-that-the-pleasantness-of-an_774636.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e28/jane-austen-39_employment_i-am-afraid-that-the-pleasantness-of-an_774636.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“I am afraid that the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.” — Jane Austen",
                "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": "Jane Austen",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "I am afraid that the pleasantness...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-am-afraid-that-the-pleasantness-of-an-employment-does-not-always/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-am-afraid-that-the-pleasantness-of-an-employment-does-not-always/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
