There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.
The narrator distills a hard truth about enabling. In context, Emma is meddling in Harriet’s affairs—“doing for” her in ways that keep Harriet dependent. The line thus indicts Emma’s self-image as helper; help can weaken when it replaces another’s choices. Stylistically, the sententious tone mimics Emma’s certainty even as Austen undercuts it with events. Readers feel the tension between care and control, a live question in friendship and family. The observation is accurate but incomplete; it ignores class and vulnerability. Emma’s arc moves from arranging to equipping, from pushing to listening. The sentence lingers as a mirror: when does our aid steal someone’s agency?