One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.

More from Sense and Sensibility

• I am afraid that the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.
• It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy; it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.
• A man would always wish to give a woman a better home than the one he takes her from; and he who can do it, where there is no doubt of her regard, must, I think, be the happiest of mortals.
• A mind lively and at ease, can do with seeing nothing, and can see nothing that does not answer.
• A Mr. (save, perhaps, some half dozen in the nation,) always needs a note of explanation.
• An artist cannot do anything slovenly.