George Eliot Quotes - Page 21

• Some gentlemen have made an amazing figure in literature by general discontent with the universe as a trap of dulness into which their great souls have fallen by mistake; but the sense of a stupendous self and an insignificant world may have its consolations. Lydgate's discontent was much harder to bear; it was the sense that there was a grand existence in thought and effective action lying around him, while his self was being narrowed into the miserable isolation of egoistic fears, and vulgar anxieties for events that might allay such fears.

  George Eliot

  Lying, Mistake, Self

  George Eliot (2016). “Middlemarch”, p.597, Xist Publishing

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• The desire to conquer is itself a sort of subjection.

  George Eliot

  Inspirational, Desire, Conquer

  George Eliot (2016). “Daniel Deronda”, p.123, George Eliot

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• Fear was stronger than the calculation of probabilities.

  George Eliot

  Fear, Stronger, Probability

  George Eliot (2015). “Middlemarch: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.450, Penguin

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• As soon as we lay ourselves entirely at His feet, we have enough light given us to guide our own steps; as the foot-soldier who hears nothing of the councils that determine the course of the great battle he is in, hears plainly enough the word of command that they must themselves obey.

  George Eliot

  Feet, Light, Soldier

  "Scenes of Clerical Life".

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• Consequences are unpitying. Our deeds carry their terrible consequences, quite apart from any fluctuations that went before—consequences that are hardly ever confined to ourselves. And it is best to fix our minds on that certainty, instead of considering what may be the elements of excuse for us.

  George Eliot

  Integrity, Mind, Elements

  George Eliot (2005). “Four Novels of George Eliot”, p.126, Wordsworth Editions

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• But I think it is hardly an argument against a man's general strength of character, that he should be apt to be mastered by love. A fine constitution doesn't insure one against small-pox or any other of those inevitable diseases. A man may be very firm in other matters, and yet be under a sort of witchery from a woman.

  George Eliot

  Love, Character, Men

  George Eliot (2016). “George Eliot Collection: Middlemarch, Adam Bede, Silas Marner, The Lifted Veil, and The Mill on the Floss”, p.164, Xist Publishing

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• Ah! but the moods lie in his nature, my boy, just as much as his reflections did, and more. A man can never do anything at variance with his own nature. He carries within him the germ of his most exceptional action; and if we wise people make eminent fools of ourselves on any particular occasion, we must endure the legitimate conclusion that we carry a few grains of folly to our ounce of wisdom.

  George Eliot

  Wise, Lying, Reflection

  George Eliot (2005). “Four Novels of George Eliot”, p.126, Wordsworth Editions

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• There is heroism even in the circles of hell for fellow-sinners who cling to each other in the fiery whirlwind and never recriminate.

  George Eliot

  Hero, Circles, Hell

  George Eliot (2000). “Felix Holt, The Radical”, p.433, Broadview Press

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• Husbands are an inferior class of men, who require keeping in order.

  George Eliot

  Husband, Men, Order

  George Eliot (2015). “Middlemarch: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.540, Penguin

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• The mother's love is at first an absorbing delight, blunting all other sensibilities; it is an expansion of the animal existence.

  George Eliot

  Mother, Animal, Love Is

  George Eliot (1866). “Felix Holt: The Radical”, p.15

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• Anger seek it prey,-- Something to tear with sharp-edged tooth and claw, Like not to go off hungry, leaving Love To feast on milk and honeycomb at will.

  George Eliot

  Anger, Leaving, Tears

  George Eliot (1839). “Theophrastus Such, Jubal and other poems and The Spanish gypsy”, p.341

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• A man deep-wounded may feel too much pain To feel much anger.

  George Eliot

  Pain, Anger, Men

  Spanish Gypsy Bk 1

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

  George Eliot

  Beauty, Language, Speak

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

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• Childhood has no forebodings; but then, it is soothed by no memories of outlived sorrow.

  George Eliot

  Memories, Childhood, Sorrow

  George Eliot (1873). “Wise, Witty, and Tender Sayings in Prose and Verse: Selected from the Works of George Eliot”, p.104

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• Mysterious haunts of echoes old and far, The voice divine of human loyalty.

  George Eliot

  Loyalty, Echoes, Voice

  George Eliot (1839). “Theophrastus Such, Jubal and other poems and The Spanish gypsy”, p.467

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• You must learn to deal with the odd and even in life, as well as in figures.

  George Eliot

  Life, Odd, Figures

  George Eliot (2016). “George Eliot Collection: Middlemarch, Adam Bede, Silas Marner, The Lifted Veil, and The Mill on the Floss”, p.233, Xist Publishing

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• So our lives glide on: the river ends we don't know where, and the sea begins, and then there is no more jumping ashore.

  George Eliot

  Life, Jumping, Sea

  George Eliot (2000). “Felix Holt, The Radical”, p.289, Broadview Press

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• There is no compensation for the woman who feels that the chief relation of her life has been no more than a mistake. She has lost her crown. The deepest secret of human blessedness has half whispered itself to her, and then forever passed her by.

  George Eliot

  Mistake, Forever, Secret

  George Eliot (2016). “Romola: Top Novelist Focus”, p.434, 谷月社

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• Who can know how much of his most inward life is made up of the thoughts he believes other men to have about him, until that fabric of opinion is threatened with ruin?

  George Eliot

  Believe, Men, Fabric

  George Eliot (2015). “Middlemarch: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.451, Penguin

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• To see an enemy humiliated gives a certain contentment, but this is jejune compared with the highly blent satisfaction of seeing him humiliated by your benevolent action or concession on his behalf. That is the sort of revenge which falls into the scale of virtue.

  George Eliot

  Revenge, Fall, Giving

  George Eliot (2016). “The Mill On The Floss”, p.294, George Eliot

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• It seems to me as a woman's face doesna want flowers; it's almost like a flower itself.... It's like when a man's singing a good tune, you don't want t' hear bells tinkling and interfering wi' the sound.

  George Eliot

  Women, Flower, Singing

  GEORGE ELIOT (1860). “ADAM BEDE”, p.190

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• A woman's lot is made for her by the love she accepts.

  George Eliot

  Women, Accepting, Made

  George Eliot (1873). “Wit and Wisdom of George Eliot”, p.167

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• It's a strange thing to think of a man as can lift a chair with his teeth, and walk fifty mile on end, trembling and turning hot and cold at only a look from one woman out of all the rest i' the world. It's a mystery we can give no account of.

  George Eliot

  Women, Thinking, Hot And Cold

  George Eliot (2016). “Adam Bede”, p.119, George Eliot

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• I can't abide to see men throw away their tools i' that way, the minute the clock begins to strike, as if they took no pleasure i' their work, and was afraid o' doing a stroke too much.... I hate to see a man's arms drop down as if he was shot, before the clock's fairly struck, just as if he'd never a bit o' pride and delight in's work. The very grindstone 'ull go on turning a bit after you loose it.

  George Eliot

  Work, Hate, Pride

  George Eliot (2005). “Four Novels of George Eliot”, p.19, Wordsworth Editions

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• Every man's work, pursued steadily, tends to become an end in itself, and so to bridge over the loveless chasms of his life.

  George Eliot

  Work, Men, Bridges

  George Eliot (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of George Eliot (Illustrated)”, p.965, Delphi Classics

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