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Who really said it

My heart is, and always will be, yours

Not Jane Austen — actually Emma Thompson Emma Thompson born 15 April 1959 · English actress and screenwriter
Disputed In copyright

Edward Ferrars’s proposal in Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility (1995), written by Emma Thompson, who also plays Elinor. Her published screenplay ↗ gives the speech at scene 186 and ends it “that my heart is and always will be yours” — without the two commas the internet has since added. It is not in Austen, and it could not have been: in chapter 49 of the novel Austen pointedly declines to tell us what Edward said.

Last verified 11 Sep 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

For presentations

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“My heart is, and always will be, yours” Jane Austen did not write “My heart is, and always will be, yours.” Emma Thompson did, for Edward Ferrars in the 1995 film of Sense and Sensibility (published screenplay, scene 186 — with no commas). In the novel, chapter 49, Austen declines to report the proposal at all. Via quotle.info · Verbatim: “I have come with no expectations. Only to profess, now that I am at liberty to do so, that my heart is and always will be yours.”

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Jane Austen. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool

In context

Evoking the world of Emma Thompson — English actress and screenwriter. Theme: "My heart is, and always will be, yours". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "My heart is, and always will be, yours". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The source

Work
Sense and Sensibility (1995), scene 186
Written by
Emma Thompson
Spoken by
Edward Ferrars (Hugh Grant) — a fictional character
Directed by
Ang Lee
Released
13 December 1995 (US)

EDWARD: Elinor! I met Lucy when I was very young. Had I had an active profession, I should never have felt such an idle, foolish inclination. At Norland my behaviour was very wrong. But I convinced myself you felt only friendship for me and it was my heart alone that I was risking. I have come with no expectations. Only to profess, now that I am at liberty to do so, that my heart is and always will be yours. Scene 186 — INT. BARTON COTTAGE. PARLOUR. DAY.

Transcribed from the published screenplay. Note the punctuation: the script has no commas around “and always will be”. The comma-ed version everyone shares is a later tidy-up, which is a small sign that the line has been travelling by copy-paste rather than from the source.

The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay & Diaries (1995) at the Internet Archive

How we verified this

  • Searched the Project Gutenberg text of Sense and Sensibility ↗ — and the other seven Austen texts — for “always will be”. Zero matches across the whole corpus.
  • Read Austen’s actual proposal scene, chapter 49. She refuses the speech outright: Edward’s errand “was only to ask Elinor to marry him”, and “how soon he had walked himself into the proper resolution… in what manner he expressed himself, and how he was received, need not be particularly told.” There is no novel line here to misquote — the film had to invent one.
  • Downloaded the full text of Emma Thompson, The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay & Diaries (Newmarket Press, 1995) ↗ and found the sentence at scene 186, quoted above. Thompson’s production diary, printed in the same volume, names it again: her entry for Friday 5 May records the line-up for “Hugh’s last scene (‘My heart is and always will be yours’)”.
  • Confirmed the credits against Wikipedia’s article on the film ↗: screenplay by Emma Thompson, directed by Ang Lee, produced by Columbia Pictures and Mirage Enterprises, US release 13 December 1995. Thompson won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for it.
In copyright

In copyright, and the published book says so in as many words: its copyright page reads “Diaries copyright © 1995 by Emma Thompson” and “Screenplay and all other text copyright © 1995 by Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.” — screen dialogue is work for hire, so the studio holds it, not the writer. Austen’s 1811 novel is public domain; this sentence is not in it, and is not covered by that.

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

Often misattributed

Filed all over the internet under Sense and Sensibility, usually with a page reference nobody has checked. The novel has no such line, and a specific, documented person wrote it.

Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (1811) refuted

“always will be” returns no match anywhere in the novel ↗ or in the rest of Austen’s fiction.

Jane Austen the real chapter 49

She withholds the speech on purpose: “in what manner he expressed himself, and how he was received, need not be particularly told.” The famous line exists because Austen left a gap and a screenwriter filled it.

Emma Thompson genuine

Scene 186 of her published screenplay ↗, and named again in her own production diary in the same book.

Right feeling, right characters, wrong century: the words are Emma Thompson’s, written for the 1995 film ↗ and Oscar-rewarded as an adaptation, not a transcription.

Context

The gap Austen left

Austen almost never lets us hear a proposal. She reports that one happened, tells us how long it took, and moves on — the comedy is in the aftermath, not the declaration. Chapter 49 is the purest example: three hours pass, Edward secures his lady, and we are told his actual words “need not be particularly told”.

A film cannot do that. Somebody has to say something to camera. Thompson wrote the speech Austen withheld, and it has been circulating as Austen ever since — which is a backhanded compliment to how well she wrote it.

The line exists because Austen refused to write it.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Love Truth Character

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.

The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay & Diariesarchive.org

Thompson’s published script and production diaries — the primary source for this line.
Sense and Sensibility (full text)gutenberg.org

Austen’s 1811 novel; chapter 49 is the proposal she declines to report.
Sense and Sensibility (1995 film)en.wikipedia.org

Credits, release dates and the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar.
Emma Thompsonen.wikipedia.org

Biography of the screenwriter who actually wrote the line.
Wikiquote: Sense and Sensibility (1995)en.wikiquote.org

Transcribed dialogue from the film.

The author

About Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson

born 15 April 1959 · English actress and screenwriter

Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is an English actress and screenwriter. Her adaptation of Sense and Sensibility won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 68th Academy Awards, making her the only person to have won Oscars for both acting and screenwriting. She also plays Elinor Dashwood in the film.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

The primary source (Chicago)

Emma Thompson, The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay & Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen’s Novel to Film (New York: Newmarket Press, 1995), screenplay scene 186. Screenplay copyright © 1995 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. Not present in Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (1811).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘My heart is, and always will be, yours’?” Last verified 11 Sep 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/my-heart-is-and-always-will-be-yours/

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