“Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.”

What does it mean?

Charlotte Lucas says, with dry humour, that you can't plan a happy marriage, so it's not worth knowing your partner too well before you marry. Austen is gently mocking this practical view.

• “In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”– Jane Austen
• “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”– Jane Austen
• “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!”– Jane Austen