Northanger Abbey quotes, explained for kids
Northanger Abbey is Jane Austen’s funniest book, and its famous lines are jokes about reading. Austen teases heroines, defends novels and lets Henry Tilney tease Catherine about her favorite spooky stories. For 6–9 year olds, these lines are a perfect way to talk about books and imagination: why we love stories, and how to tell a story from real life. Read one aloud in a dramatic voice, laugh at it together, then ask the talk question.
Every line is quoted word for word from the original 1817 novel by Jane Austen.
Quote 1: “No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine.”
Narrator, the very first line, introducing Catherine as a noisy, ordinary little girl What it means: Nobody who knew Catherine as a baby would have guessed she would become the hero of a story. Austen is joking that real heroines can be ordinary girls.
Ask your child: Could someone ordinary, like you or me, be the hero of a story?
Quote 2: “But from fifteen to seventeen she was in training for a heroine”
Narrator, austen describes how Catherine grew from a tomboy who rolled down hills into a girl who loved books What it means: As a teenager, Catherine read lots of exciting stories and tried to learn how a heroine should think and feel.
Ask your child: If you were in training to be a hero, what would you practice?
Quote 3: “only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language.”
Narrator, austen stops the story to stand up for novels, which many people in her day thought were silly What it means: Austen says people pretend a novel is “only a novel,” but a good novel shows how clever, funny and wise a writer can be.
Ask your child: What is a story that you think is really clever? What makes it so good?
Quote 4: “while I have Udolpho to read, I feel as if nobody could make me miserable.”
Catherine Morland, catherine tells her new friend Isabella how much she loves a thrilling book called The Mysteries of Udolpho What it means: Catherine loves her book so much that, as long as she can read it, nothing can make her sad.
Ask your child: Is there a book that always makes you feel happy?
Quote 5: “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
Henry Tilney, catherine thinks clever young men don’t read novels, and Henry surprises her by saying he loves them What it means: Henry is saying, in a joking way, that anyone who can’t enjoy a good story is missing out.
Ask your child: Do you think grown-ups should read stories too? Why?
Quote 6: “Where people wish to attach, they should always be ignorant.”
Narrator, catherine feels embarrassed that she doesn’t know about drawing, and Austen makes a joke about it What it means: Austen is teasing. She pretends that people like you better if you don’t know much, but she really means that it is silly to hide what you know.
Ask your child: Is it ever OK to pretend not to know something? Why or why not?
Quote 7: “I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible.”
Catherine Morland, henry jokes that he can’t understand Catherine, and she answers simply and honestly What it means: Catherine means she only knows how to say what she really means, plainly, so she could never be confusing.
Ask your child: Why is it good to say what you really mean?
Quote 8: “What one means one day, you know, one may not mean the next. Circumstances change, opinions alter.”
Isabella Thorpe, isabella explains to Catherine why she has changed her mind about someone she once said she cared about What it means: Isabella is saying it is fine to promise something today and forget it tomorrow. Catherine, who always keeps her word, finds this very strange.
Ask your child: How do you feel when a friend changes their mind about a promise?
Quote 9: “it is well to have as many holds upon happiness as possible.”
Henry Tilney, at the abbey, Catherine says she has just learned to love hyacinth flowers, and Henry is pleased What it means: Henry means it is good to love lots of different things, because each one is another way to feel happy.
Ask your child: What are some little things that make you happy?
Quote 10: “Remember the country and the age in which we live.”
Henry Tilney, henry gently helps Catherine see that her spooky imagination has run away with her at the abbey What it means: Henry reminds Catherine that real life is not like a scary novel, and she should think about what is actually likely to be true.
Ask your child: Has your imagination ever made something seem scarier than it really was?
Questions about Northanger Abbey quotes
- What is the most famous quote from Northanger Abbey?
- Henry Tilney’s “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid” is the most quoted line. The opening line about Catherine not seeming “born to be an heroine” is a close second.
- Who said “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid”?
- Henry Tilney says it to Catherine Morland while they walk near Bath. He is teasing her, but he also means it: he loves novels as much as she does.
- What is the first line of Northanger Abbey?
- “No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine.” Austen is joking that her heroine starts out as a very ordinary girl.
- What book does Catherine read in Northanger Abbey?
- She reads The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe, a famous spooky novel of the 1790s. It fills her head with ideas about secret passages and dark mysteries.