Jane Austen has inspired people from all walks of life for over two hundred years. The themes evident throughout her novels are timeless. Obviously, she has a lot to say about love, but her works deal with other topics such as friendship, human nature, and happiness.

The wisdom of Jane Austen goes far beyond her own times. Below are some quotes that are especially applicable to the modern young woman.

1. "It isn't what we say or think that defines us, but what we do." -Sense and Sensibility

2. "Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised or a little mistaken." -Emma

3. "I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way." -Sense and Sensibility

4. "The distance is nothing when one has a motive." -Pride and Prejudice

5. "But people themselves alter so much, that there is something new to be observed in them forever." -Pride and Prejudice

6. "Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience- or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope." -Sense and Sensibility

7. "Angry people are not always wise." -Pride and Prejudice

8. "There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is no my nature." -Northanger Abbey

9. "Run mad as often as you choose, but do not faint!" -Love and Friendship

10. "Time will explain." -Persuasion

11. "There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves." -Emma

12. "...when pain is over, the remembrance of it often becomes a pleasure." -Persuasion

13. "Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion. " -Pride and Prejudice

14. "One man's ways may be as good as another's, but we all like our own best." -Persuasion

15. "I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives." -Persuasion

16. "There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better; we find another comfort somewhere." -Mansfield Park

17. "If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad." -Northanger Abbey

There is a lot we can learn from Jane Austen's work, even if it was written over two hundred years ago.