Life & Wisdom Quote by Jane Austen

Austen nails the speed of self-justification: the moment desire flickers, the mind scrambles to dress it up as principle. The line’s sly power is in that word “quick.” It’s not just that we rationalize; it’s that rationalization arrives with the efficiency of a servant rushing to meet a guest we already adore. Reasons don’t lead; they follow, eager to look like they were in charge all along.

The phrasing is politely surgical. “Approving” sounds moral, even civic-minded, as if we’re conducting a fair review. But the engine is “what we like,” a smaller, more private appetite that Austen treats as the real sovereign. The subtext is a warning about how taste masquerades as judgment, especially in a culture that prizes decorum and “good sense.” If you can make your preference sound reasonable, you can keep your self-image intact while still getting what you want.

In Austen’s world of courtship, inheritance, and reputation, that mental trick has stakes. Who you “approve” of can determine your future, yet approval is suspiciously vulnerable to charm, status, and the thrill of being chosen. The line skewers the genteel confidence with which characters (and readers) defend biased takes: we don’t merely fall for someone or something; we assemble a brief arguing it was inevitable, sensible, even virtuous.

It works because Austen doesn’t thunder about hypocrisy; she lets vanity indict itself in a single, breezy sentence. The wit is its realism: everyone recognizes the reflex, and nobody likes being caught in it.