Famous Quotes by George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian) Evans]
- The reward of one duty is the power to fulfil another. More
- Any coward can fight a battle when he’s sure of winning, but give me the man who has pluck to... More
- Ignorance ... is a painless evil; so, I should think, is dirt, considering the merry faces that... More
- Play not with paradoxes. That caustic which you handle in order to scorch others may happen to... More
- It is, I fear, but a vain show of fulfilling the heathen precept, “Know thyself,” and too... More
- This is a puzzling world, and Old Harry’s got a finger in it. More
- Boots and shoes are the greatest trouble of my life. Everything else one can turn and turn about,... More
- Men’s men: gentle or simple, they’re much of a muchness. More
- It’s them as take advantage that get advantage i’ this world. More
- That’s what a man wants in a wife, mostly; he wants to make sure o’ one fool as ‘ull tell... More
- I have the conviction that excessive literary production is a social offence. More
- What a wretched lot of old shrivelled creatures we shall be by-and-by. Never mind—the uglier we... More
- But the mother’s yearning, that completest type of the life in another life which is the... More
- It is generally a feminine eye that first detects the moral deficiencies hidden under the “dear... More
- We hand folks over to God’s mercy, and show none ourselves. More
- There are various orders of beauty, causing men to make fools of themselves in various styles ...... More
- In every parting there is an image of death. More
- I tell you there isn’t a thing under the sun that needs to be done at all, but what a man can... More
- Perspective, as its inventor remarked, is a beautiful thing. What horrors of damp huts, where... More
- Gossip is a sort of smoke that comes from the dirty tobacco-pipes of those who diffuse it: it... More
- It was not that she was out of temper, but that the world was not equal to the demands of her... More
- The sense of an entailed disadvantage—the deformed foot doubtfully hidden by the shoe, makes a... More
- There are some cases ... in which the sense of injury breeds—not the will to inflict injuries... More
- Hostesses who entertain much must make up their parties as ministers make up their cabinets, on... More
- Sir Joshua would have been glad to take her portrait; and he would have had an easier task than... More
- Vanity is as ill at ease under indifference as tenderness is under a love which it cannot return. More
- Of what use, however, is a general certainty that an insect will not walk with his head hindmost,... More
- It is possible to have a strong self-love without any self-satisfaction, rather with a... More
- Of a truth, Knowledge is power, but it is a power reined by scruple, having a conscience of what... More
- In spite of his practical ability, some of his experience had petrified into maxims and quotations. More
- Perhaps his might be one of the natures where a wise estimate of consequences is fused in the... More
- Children demand that their heroes should be fleckless, and easily believe them so: perhaps a... More
- Here undoubtedly lies the chief poetic energy:Min the force of imagination that pierces or exalts... More
- Self-confidence is apt to address itself to an imaginary dullness in others; as people who are... More
- The desire to conquer is itself a sort of subjection. More
- No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no... More
- But human experience is usually paradoxical, that means incongruous with the phrases of current... More
- A difference of tastes in jokes is a great strain on the affections. More
- When we get to wishing a great deal for ourselves, whatever we get soon turns into mere... More
- Ignorant kindness may have the effect of cruelty; but to be angry with it as if it were direct... More
- All meanings, we know, depend on the key of interpretation. More
- The beginning of an acquaintance whether with persons or things is to get a definite outline of... More
- In the schoolroom her quick mind had taken readily that strong starch of unexplained rules and... More
- For what is love itself, for the one we love best?—an enfolding of immeasurable cares which yet... More
- There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in... More
- Excellence encourages one about life generally; it shows the spiritual wealth of the world. More
- You may try but you can never imagine what it is to have a man’s form of genius in you, and to... More
- Every woman is supposed to have the same set of motives, or else to be a monster. More
- A woman’s heart must be of such a size and no larger, else it must be pressed small, like... More
- And when a woman’s will is as strong as the man’s who wants to govern her, half her strength... More
- It is painful to be told that anything is very fine and not be able to feel that it is... More
- Failure after long perseverance is much grander than never to have a striving good enough to be... More
- You have such strong words at command, that they make the smallest argument seem formidable. More
- Speech is often barren; but silence also does not necessarily brood over a full nest. Your still... More
- The only failure a man ought to fear is failure in cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best. More
- There is hardly any mental misery worse than that of having our own serious phrases, our own... More
- Harold, like the rest of us, had many impressions which saved him the trouble of distinct ideas. More
- There is a sort of subjection which is the peculiar heritage of largeness and of love; and... More
- There is no private life which has not been determined by a wider public life. More
- For what we call illusions are often, in truth, a wider vision of past and present realities—a... More
- A supreme love, a motive that gives a sublime rhythm to a woman’s life, and exalts habit into... More
- There is much pain that is quite noiseless; and vibrations that make human agonies are often a... More
- To act with doubleness towards a man whose own conduct was double, was so near an approach to... More
- In all private quarrels the duller nature is triumphant by reason of dullness. More
- When one wanted one’s interests looking after whatever the cost, it was not so well for a... More
- The beginning of compunction is the beginning of a new life. More
- One way of getting an idea of our fellow-countrymen’s miseries is to go and look at their... More
- There are glances of hatred that stab, and raise no cry of murder. More
- Life is measured by the rapidity of change, the succession of influences that modify the being. More
- Where women love each other, men learn to smother their mutual dislike. More
- Great feelings will often take the aspect of error, and great faith the aspect of illusion. More
- Few women, I fear, have had such reason as I have to think the long sad years of youth were worth... More
- Life is too precious to be spent in this weaving and unweaving of false impressions, and it is... More
- Truth has rough flavours if we bite it through. More
- Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact. More
- Opposition may become sweet to a man when he has christened it persecution. More
- A toddling little girl is a centre of common feeling which makes the most dissimilar people... More
- Errors look so very ugly in persons of small means—one feels they are taking quite a liberty in... More
- Worldly faces never look so worldly as at a funeral. They have the same effect of grating... More
- Genius at first is little more than a great capacity for receiving discipline. More
- If we use common words on a great occasion, they are the more striking, because they are felt at... More
- No compliment can be eloquent, except as an expression of indifference. More
- Might, could, would—they are contemptible auxiliaries. More
- Quarrel? Nonsense; we have not quarrelled. If one is not to get into a rage sometimes, what is... More
- Will not a tiny speck very close to our vision blot out the glory of the world, and leave only a... More
- The best piety is to enjoy ... More
- Our sense of duty must often wait for some work which shall take the place of dilettanteism [sic]... More
- Certainly, the mistakes that we male and female mortals make when we have our own way might... More
- There are answers which, in turning away wrath, only send it to the other end of the room, and to... More
- ... the only way in which Mr. Brooke could be coerced into thinking of the right arguments at the... More
- ... one’s self-satisfaction is an untaxed kind of property which it is very unpleasant to find... More
- The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so... More
- Rome, the city of visible history, where the past of a whole hemisphere seems moving in funeral... More
- ... indefinite visions of ambition are weak against the ease of doing what is habitual or... More
- Our passions do not live apart in locked chambers but dress in their small wardrobe of notions,... More
- The egoism which enters into our theories does not affect their sincerity; rather, the more our... More
- Some have felt that these blundering lives are due to the inconvenient indefiniteness with which... More
- It is in these acts called trivialities that the seeds of joy are forever wasted, until men and... More
- To be candid, in Middlemarch phraseology, meant, to use an early opportunity of letting your... More
- ... people were so ridiculous with their illusions, carrying their fools’ caps unawares,... More
Dictionary Tip:
Lookup any word on eNotes with our dictionary. Highlight the word and press SHIFT + D for a definition, or SHIFT + T for a synonym.
