When the Bank of England put Jane Austen’s picture on a £10 note, it was accompanied by a quote from Pride and Prejudice: "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!" It’s a lovely sentiment, but I suspect whoever selected it never read the novel. This particular line was spoken by the antagonist Caroline Bingley, and she meant exactly the opposite. She went on to say, “How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book!” and “When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” And it is very clear to even the densest reader that she's lying through her teeth. If the Bank of England wanted a more appropriate Austen quote, they should have asked her many fans. I’d have chosen one from Sense and Sensibility: “It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.”
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