“For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?”
- Source
- Pride and Prejudice
- Date
- 1813
- Attribution
- Source identified
- Voice / speaker
- Fictional character · Mr. Bennet
What does this quote mean?
Mr. Bennet’s joke treats social observation as reciprocal: everyone is somebody else’s entertainment, including the people doing the laughing.
Where does it come from?
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 57; Mr. Bennet comments on the absurd rumour concerning Elizabeth and Darcy.
Who voices the line?
Fictional character · Mr. Bennet. Mr. Bennet says this in Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 57, while treating the rumor about Elizabeth and Darcy with characteristic irony.
The source author and the local speaker can be different, especially in fiction, drama, dialogue and poetry.
How should this attribution be read?
This wording is connected with the named source shown above. Translations and editions can vary, so consult the source note when exact wording matters.