Which novel by Jane Austen begins with 'It is a truth universally acknowledged'?

The novel by Jane Austen that begins with “It is a truth universally acknowledged” is Pride and Prejudice.

Published in 1813, the novel opens with a famously ironic statement about wealthy unmarried men supposedly needing wives. The sentence immediately introduces one of Austen’s central subjects: marriage shaped by money, inheritance, family pressure, and social status. It also hints that the “universal” truth may actually be a belief held by ambitious families and their neighbours.

The story follows Elizabeth Bennet as she encounters the proud, wealthy Fitzwilliam Darcy. A common mix-up is to associate the quotation with Emma or Sense and Sensibility, since all three are Austen novels concerned with courtship and social judgement. Neither begins with this line. Mansfield Park, another Austen novel, also explores class and marriage but has a different opening.

A related fact readers often ask about is the novel’s original title: Austen first drafted it as First Impressions. The eventual title, Pride and Prejudice, reflects the mistaken judgements that Elizabeth and Darcy must overcome.