TOP 15 BEST CLASSIC ROMANCE NOVELS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE
1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen — published 1813
“There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
→Read Pride and Prejudice online
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë — published 1847
“I do not think, sir, you have any right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
3. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen — published 1811
“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.”
― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
→Read Sense and Sensibility online
4. Persuasion by Jane Austen — published 1818
“Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.”
― Jane Austen, Persuasion
5. Emma by Jane Austen — published 1815
“Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised or a little mistaken.”
― Jane Austen, Emma
6. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë — published 1847
“Be with me always — take any form — drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I can not live without my life! I can not live without my soul!”
― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
→Read Wuthering Heights online
7. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen — published 1817
“It would be mortifying to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of a man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire… Woman is fine for her own satisfaction alone. No man will admire her the more, no woman will like her the better for it. Neatness and fashion are enough for the former, and a something of shabbiness or impropriety will be most endearing to the latter.”
― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
8. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen — published 1814
“There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere.”
― Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
9. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott — published 1868
“You are the gull, Jo, strong and wild, fond of the storm and the wind, flying far out to sea, and happy all alone.”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
10. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare — published 1595
“If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for pricking and you beat love down.”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
11. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy — published 1891
“A strong woman who recklessly throws away her strength, she is worse than a weak woman who has never had any strength to throw away.”
― Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles
→Read Tess of the D’Urbervilles online
12. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster — published 1908
“Passion should believe itself irresistible. It should forget civility and consideration and all the other curses of a refined nature. Above all, it should never ask for leave where there is a right of way.”
― E.M. Forster, A Room with a View
→Read A Room with a View online
13. Middlemarch by George Eliot — published 1871
“If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.”
― George Eliot, Middlemarch
14. Lady Susan by Jane Austen — published 1871
“There is something agreeable in feelings so easily worked on; not that I envy him their possession, nor would, for the world, have such myself; but they are very convenient when one wishes to influence the passions of another.”
― Jane Austen, Lady Susan
15. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery — published 1908
“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
