George Eliot Quotes About Goodness

• Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand.

  George Eliot

  Wisdom, Disappointment, Memorable

  George Eliot (2006). “Silas Marner: Literary Touchstone Edition”, p.155, Prestwick House Inc

• 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.

  George Eliot

  Heartbreak, Betrayal, Believe

  George Eliot (1873). “Wit and Wisdom of George Eliot”, p.139

• When what is good comes of age, and is likely to live, there is reason for rejoicing.

  George Eliot

  Age, Reason, Goodness

  George Eliot (2016). “Complete Works Of George Eliot”, p.607, ShandonPress

• ... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.

  George Eliot

  Selfish, Gentleman, Vices

  George Eliot (1873). “Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life. By George Eliot ....”, p.354

• These fellow-mortals, every one, must be accepted as they are: you can neither straighten their noses, nor brighten their wit, nor rectify their dispositions; and it is these people-amongst whom your life is passed-that it is needful you should tolerate, pity, and love: it is these more or less ugly, stupid, inconsistent people whose movements of goodness you should be able to admire-for whom you should cherish all possible hopes, all possible patience.

  George Eliot

  Stupid, Compassion, People

  George Eliot (2005). “Four Novels of George Eliot”, p.129, Wordsworth Editions

• Beauty is part of the finished language by which goodness speaks.

  George Eliot

  Beauty, Language, Speak

  George Eliot (1863). “Romola”, p.212

• The first condition of human goodness is something to love; the second, something to reverence.

  George Eliot

  Firsts, Goodness, Reverence

  Scenes of Clerical Life "Jane's Repentance" ch. 10 (1858)

• Often the soul is ripened into fuller goodness while age has spread an ugly film, so that mere glances can never divine the preciousness of the fruit.

  George Eliot

  Soul, Age, Ugly

  George Eliot (2004). “Silas Marner (Sparklesoup Classics)”, p.89, Sparklesoup LLC

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