“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!”

What does it mean?

Nothing is as pleasant as reading. In the novel the line is ironic: Caroline Bingley says it only to impress Mr Darcy, and soon gets bored of her book.

Key vocabulary

I declare

an old-fashioned way to say "I really think" or show surprise

• “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
• “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.”– Jane Austen
• “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”– Jane Austen