George Eliot Quotes
-
It was one of those dangerous moments when speech is at once sincere and deceptive - when feeling, rising high above its average depth, leaves flood-marks which are never reached again.
-
Whatever may be the success of my stories, I shall be resolute in preserving my incognito, having observed that a nom de plume secures all the advantages without the disagreeables of reputation.
-
Tis a petty kind of fame At best, that comes of making violins; And saves no masses, either. Thou wilt go To purgatory none the less.
-
Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.
-
The bow always strung ... will not do.
-
It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses we must plant more trees.
-
Trouble's made us kin.
-
It is pleasant to have a kind word now and then when one is not near enough to have a kind glance or a hearty shake by the hand.
-
One of the tortures of jealousy is, that it can never turn away its eyes from the thing that pains it.
-
One's self-satisfaction is an untaxed kind of property which it is very unpleasant to find deprecated.
-
The memory has as many moods as the temper, and shifts its scenery like a diorama.
-
It is only a poor sort of happiness that could ever come by caring very much about our own pleasures. We can only have the highest happiness such as goes along with being a great man, by having wide thoughts and much feeling for the rest of the world as well as ourselves.
-
He was at a starting point which makes many a man's career a fine subject for betting, if there were any gentlemen given to that amusement who could appreciate the complicated probabilities of an arduous purpose. . . .
-
Might, could, would - they are contemptible auxiliaries.
-
The finest language is mostly made up of simple unimposing words.
-
We judge other according to results; how else?--not knowing the process by which results are arrived at.
-
No one who has ever known what it is to lose faith in a fellow-man whom he has profoundly loved and reverenced, will lightly say that the shock can leave the faith in the Invisible Goodness unshaken. With the sinking of high human trust, the dignity of life sinks too; we cease to believe in our own better self, since that also is part of the common nature which is degraded in our thought; and all the finer impulses of the soul are dulled.
-
Her heart went out to him with a stronger movement than ever, at the thought that people would blame him. Maggie hated blame; she had been blamed her whole life, and nothing had come of it but evil tempers.
-
Women should be protected from anyone's exercise of unrighteous power... but then, so should every other living creature.
-
Correct English is the slang of prigs.
-
Can anything be more disgusting than to hear people called 'educated' making small jokes about eating ham, and showing themselves empty of any real knowledge as to the relation of their own social and religious life to the history of the people they think themselves witty in insulting? The best thing that can be said of it is, that it is a sign of the intellectual narrowness—in plain English, the stupidity which is still the average mark of our culture.
-
Hold up your head! You were not made for failure, you were made for victory. Go forward with a joyful confidence.
-
There is heroism even in the circles of hell for fellow-sinners who cling to each other in the fiery whirlwind and never recriminate.
-
One can begin so many things with a new person! - even begin to be a better man.