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Who really said it

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife

Written by Jane Austen 1775–1817 · English novelist
Verified Free to reuse

The first sentence of Pride and Prejudice, published in three volumes by T. Egerton in 1813. Our wording matches the first edition exactly, comma after “fortune” included — a comma most modern reprints, including the Project Gutenberg ↗ text, leave out. The sentence is not a statement of Austen’s belief: the second paragraph immediately turns it round to mean the opposite.

Last verified 18 Sep 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (London: T. Egerton, 1813), vol. I, ch. I — the opening sentence, with the first edition’s comma after "fortune". Public domain. — Quotle.info

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Provenance

The opening of the novel

Work
Pride and Prejudice
First published
London: T. Egerton, 1813, in three volumes
Location
Volume I, chapter I — the first sentence
Published as
“By the author of Sense and Sensibility” — Austen was not named

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

The first two paragraphs, from the 1813 first edition. The second is what makes the first ironic: the “universally acknowledged truth” turns out to be held entirely by the families doing the acquiring.

First edition scan
See the 1813 title page and opening
Pride and Prejudice at Project Gutenberg

How we verified this

  • Against the first edition — volume I of the T. Egerton first edition of 1813 ↗ opens with this sentence, and a second scan ↗ of the same edition reads identically: “a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”, with the comma after “fortune”.
  • The comma is usually lost — the Project Gutenberg text ↗ reproduces the illustrated 1894 George Allen edition, which prints “a good fortune must be in want of a wife” with no comma. Both readings are in circulation; ours is the 1813 one.
  • Anonymous on publication — the title page credits “the author of Sense and Sensibility” rather than Austen, as the first-edition scan shows; Wikipedia’s article on Jane Austen ↗ records that her novels were published anonymously in her lifetime.
  • Public domain — an 1813 publication, so free of copyright in the United States. Full text at Wikisource ↗ and Project Gutenberg ↗.
Public domain

First published by T. Egerton in 1813, well before the 1931 United States public-domain cutoff, so the text is free to quote, reprint, translate and adapt. A modern edition can only claim its own added material — introduction, notes, and the editorial punctuation that produced the comma-free version of this very sentence.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Rightly credited — routinely misread

Nobody disputes that Austen wrote this. Two things do go wrong: the punctuation, and the assumption that the sentence means what it says.

“a good fortune must be in want of a wife” later variant

The comma after “fortune” is in the 1813 first edition ↗ and absent from the 1894 George Allen text that Project Gutenberg ↗ reproduces — which is why both versions circulate.

The sentence as a sincere maxim context stripped

The next paragraph makes it ironic: the “truth” is held by the neighbourhood families, who treat any rich newcomer as “the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters”.

The narrator, not Jane Austen in person character, not author

Austen’s narrator adopts the opinions of the society being described in order to expose them. Quoting the line as her own view of marriage reverses its point.

Austen’s, word for word — and the 1813 first edition ↗ settles the comma.

Context

Why it mattered

It is probably the most familiar opening sentence in English, and it works by pretending to be a proverb. A universal truth is announced, in the flattest possible register, and then quietly handed over to the people who actually believe it.

By the second paragraph the “truth” has been relocated into the minds of the surrounding families, who treat an eligible man as property to be allocated. Nothing has been argued; the sentence has simply been turned inside out.

A universal truth that turns out to be held by the neighbours.

Read the full story

Austen drafted the novel as First Impressions between 1796 and 1797. Her father offered it to the publisher Thomas Cadell, who declined it without reading it. She revised it substantially and it was published by T. Egerton in January 1813, in three volumes, credited only to “the author of Sense and Sensibility”.

The irony of the opening is set up immediately by the scene that follows: Mrs Bennet arrives with news that Netherfield Park is let at last, and spends the rest of the chapter demonstrating the exact assumption the first sentence has just described.

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Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Pride and Prejudice (full text)www.gutenberg.org

The complete novel, in the 1894 George Allen text — which drops the 1813 comma after “fortune”.
Pride and Prejudice, first edition 1813, vol. Iarchive.org

Scan of the T. Egerton first edition, opening at chapter I.
Pride and Prejudice, first edition (three volumes)archive.org

A cleaner scan of the 1813 first edition, used to confirm the punctuation.
Pride and Prejudiceen.wikisource.org

Transcribed text, chapter by chapter.
Pride and Prejudiceen.wikipedia.org

Publication history, the 1813 first edition, and the novel’s reception.
Jane Austenen.wikipedia.org

Her life and the six novels, published anonymously in her lifetime.

The author

About Jane Austen

Jane Austen

1775–1817 · English novelist

Jane Austen wrote an early version of Pride and Prejudice in the 1790s as First Impressions; a publisher turned it down unseen, and it appeared, heavily revised, in 1813. She published anonymously throughout her life. Her characteristic move is the sentence that says one thing and means its opposite, and she put the clearest example of it first, where nobody could miss it.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

The primary source (Chicago)

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice: A Novel. In Three Volumes (London: T. Egerton, 1813), vol. 1, chap. 1 — the opening sentence, quoted with the first edition’s comma after “fortune”.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife’?” Last verified 18 Sep 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/it-is-a-truth-universally-acknowledged-that-a-single-man-in/

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