Few writers who have found inspiration in Pride and Prejudice can resist including a parody of its immortal first sentence. The book begins with (all together now!):
‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.’
As every high school student of the book – be they bewitched, bewildered or even bored by Jane Austen’s masterpiece – can tell you, the sentence is dripping in warm, aromatic irony. Here is a sample of the homages and parodies that have been produced in its honor. We’re hoping to build a nice collection so please add more via your comments below. Movies, TV shows and published sources only, please! We will have a reader competition with our own variations later.
This little gem comes from Bridget Jones Diary (2001):
It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces.
The TV series Lost in Austen (2008) started with the slightly hammy but nevertheless accurate:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that we are all longing to escape.
Bride and Prejudice (2004), reviewed in this post, did without the graceful language and gave it to us straight with:
All mothers think that any single guy with big bucks must be shopping for a wife.
Pride and Prejudice; A Latter-Comedy (2003) goes for a parody which is both more long-winded and more vague (preferring to transfer the irony to its use of the word ‘comedy’ in the movie’s title.) It opted for:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a girl of a certain age, and in a certain situation in life, must be in want of a husband.
The 2009 novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is reviewed here, starts with a little more bite, offering us the following pearl of wisdom:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.
Finally, Belinda Roberts begins her 2009 novel Prawn and Prejudice with the enticing:
It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a yacht must be in want of a female crew.
Which, dear Reader, is the most deserving of your good opinion? Which is the most insufferable? Please also let us know about any others you come across. Of course, you can never beat the original – unless of course the original is Star Trek – but there are sure to be a few more worthy of a mention.
Yours in anticipation
Lizzy
In my experience…it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be gay.’ *sigh*
The comment above inspired me to come up with this version: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man with fabulous nature and looks (and incredible dancing skills), must be gay.
*sigh*
Definately the zombies. I hadn’t read any Austen before I read PP & Z and it was /brilliant!/
I loved the 2009 novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, opener!
All the references are just hilarious…well the one of the yacht sent me in a fit of guffaws, but as u said! It doesn’t beat the original XD
I haven’t read the one with zombies… it seems awkward to me. Maybe I’ll try it later. What I’m going for now is the Darcy mystery series
I loved all the quotes especially the ones from Bridget Jones and Lost in Austen.
I do have one from Camilla Morton’s book “How to Walk in High Heels”.
She says;
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possesion of a good heel, must be in want of a dance partner.”
Still, it is a truth universally acknowledged, that nothing beats the orginal uuniversally ackowledged truth!
The thing with the Latter Day Comedy Pride and Prejudice, is that you have to be LDS (or Mormon) to appreciate a lot of the humor in it. The first line is ironic and funny if you are Mormon, because there is a whole cultural thing behind it that you must understand. Yes, it wasn’t the greatest Jane Austen adaptation that was ever made, but it is important to understand that the movie was made for a particular niche, it wasn’t meant to be funny to everyone.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the first line of Pride & Prejudice is more commonly paraphrased for jokes than any other quote.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a robot in want of hands can use her mouth.”
(Jeanette Winterson, Stone Gods) [about a robotic head that just performed cunnilingus on a teenaged girl in a chaotic post-3-war world]
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the burying of a disfigured and unrecognisable corpse in a crime drama means that character is still alive.
“Evidence based pride and observational prejudice.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a medical intervention justified by observational data must be in want of verification through a randomised controlled trial.”
From “Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials.
–Gordon C S Smith, Jill P Pell”
BMJ 2003;327:1459–61
It is a truth universally aknowledged that the bigger and more expensive the wedding, the longer it will last and the happier the couple will be.
Another parody of Jane Austen’s opening sentence can be found in the opening sentence of the book, _Point of Honour_ by Madeleine E. Robins. See the sentence below:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Fallen Woman of good family must, soon or late, descend to whoredom.”
—Joy H.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a man in possession of a wife, must be in want of a good fortune.”
- from the parody novel, Pied and Prodigious (available on Amazon Kindle).