“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

What does it mean?

A playful defence of novels, said by the hero Henry Tilney: anyone who can't enjoy a good story must be very dull.

Key vocabulary

intolerably

so much that it is hard to accept

• “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
• “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!”– Jane Austen