George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

My ownand development deepen everyday my conviction that our may be measured by the degree in which we sympathize with and individual .

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) men

We have all aof meeting with some , some tenderness, some , when we are : it is theonly who cannot be— the living only from whom men's indulgence and reverence are held off...

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) men

If art does not enlarge men's sympathies, it does nothing morally.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) art

Ourare likethat are born to us; theyandapart from our own will. Nay, children may be strangled, but deeds never: they have an indestructible life both in and out of our ;

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) life

Butis a plant of , and the seeds have never flourished beyond the walls.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

Hiswas destitute of that dread which has been erroneously decried as if it were nothing higher than a man’s animal care for his own skin: that awe of the Divine Nemesis which was felt by religious pagans, and, though it took a more positive form under , is still felt by the mass of mankind simply as a vagueat anything which is called wrong-doing. Such terror of the unseen is so far above mere sensualthat it will annihilate that cowardice: it is the initial recognition of a restraining , and checks the hard bold scrutiny of imperfectinto obligations which can never be proved to have any sanctity in the abscence of feeling.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) war

An ass may bray a good while before he shakes thedown.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) good

The realm ofis large enough beyond the grave. This is theofand , and I shall take leave to tell you that you are very dear.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) you

I'm proof against that word failure. I've seen behind it. The only failure a man ought to fear is failure of cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) fear

An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) peace

The darkestthat ever fell upon thenever hid the , never put out the . It only made the stars more keenly, kindly glancing, as if in protest against the .

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) dark

'Tis God gives skill, But not without men's hands: He could not make Antonio Stradivari's violins Without Antonio.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) men

I like not only to be , but also to be told that I am loved. I am not sure that you are of the same kind. But the realm ofis large enough beyond the grave. This is theofand , and I shall take leave to tell you that you are very dear.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) love

is the man who, havingto say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the .

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) man

The golden moments in the stream ofrush past us, and we see nothing but sand; thecome to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) men

is the influence of one true, loving on another.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) true

The difficulty is, to decide how far resolution should set in the direction of activity rather than in the acceptance of a more negative state.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) acceptance

I began ... to watch with peculiar alarm lest what I called my philosophic estimate of the human lot in general, should be a mere prose lyric expressing my own pain and consequent bad temper.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) pain

Examining thein order to find consolation is very much like looking carefully over the pages of a greatin order to find our own . ... Whether we find what we want or not, our preoccupation has hindered us from a trueof the contents.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) age

... that modern sect of Flagellants who make a ritual of lashing — not themselves but — all their neighbours.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) age

Anycan fight a battle when he's sure of winning; but give me the man who has pluck to fight when he's sure of losing. That's my way, sir; and there are many victories worse than a defeat.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) man

The oftheforward, happily does not wait to be done bymen.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) war

This volume contains three stories: "The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton", "Mr Gilfil's Love Story" and "Janet's Repentance". Theis available from Project Gutenberg.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) art

Nice distinctions are troublesome. It is so much easier to say that a thing is black, than to discriminate the particular shade of brown, blue, or green, to which it really belongs. It is so much easier to make up your mind that your neighbour is good for nothing, than to enter into all the circumstances that would oblige you to modify that opinion.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) art

Every man who is not a monster, a mathematician, or a mad philosopher, is the slave of some woman or other.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) man

[Most people] are neither extraordinarily silly, nor extraordinarily wicked, nor extraordinarily wise; their eyes are neither deep and liquid with sentiment, nor sparkling with suppressed witticisms; they have probably had no hairbreadth escapes or thrilling adventures; their brains are certainly not pregnant with genius, and their passions have not manifested themselves at all after the fashion of a volcano. … Depend upon it, you would gain unspeakably if you would learn with me to see some of the poetry and the pathos, the tragedy and the comedy, lying in the experience of a human soul that looks out through dull grey eyes, and that speaks in a voice of quite ordinary tones.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) poetry

Opposition may become sweet to a man when he has christened it persecution.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) man

The blessed work oftheforward, happily does not wait to be done bymen.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) war

Worldly faces, never look so worldly as at a funeral.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) world

Who can prove Wit to be witty when with deeper ground Dulness intuitive declares wit dull?

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) wit

It's but little good you'll do a-watering the last year's crop.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) good

Deep, unspeakable suffering may well be called a baptism, a regeneration, the initiation into a new state.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) suffering

We hand folks over to 's , and show none ourselves.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

Ourdetermine us, as much as we determine our deeds ...

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

are unpitying. Our deeds carry their terrible consequences, quite apart from any fluctuations that went before — consequences that are hardly ever confined to ourselves.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) art

Family likeness has often a deep sadness in it. Nature, that great tragic dramatist, knits us together by bone and muscle, and divides us by the subtler web of our brains; blends yearning and repulsion; and ties us by our heart-strings to the beings that jar us at every movement.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) art

is a licensed trespasser: it has no fear of dogs, but may climb over walls and peep in at windows with impunity.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) fear

The natur o' things doesn't change, though it seems as if one's own life was nothing but change. The square o' four is sixteen, and you must lengthen your lever in proportion to your weight, is as true when a man's miserable as when he's happy; and the best o' working is, it gives you a grip hold o' things outside your own lot".

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) life

has a way of cheating itself consciously, like a child who plays at solitary hide-and-seek; it is pleased with assurances that it all the while disbelieves.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) self

"There's folks as make bad butter and trusten to the salt t' hide it." (Mrs Poyser).

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) trust

It was a still afternoon — the golden light was lingering languidly among the upper boughs, only glancing down here and there on the purple pathway and its edge of faintly sprinkled moss: an afternoon in which destiny disguises her cold awful face behind a hazy radiant veil, encloses us in warm downy wings, and poisons us with violet-scented breath.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) war

Such young unfurrowed souls roll to meet each other like two velvet peaches that touch softly and are at rest; they mingle as easily as two brooklets that ask for nothing but to entwine themselves and ripple with ever-interlacing curves in the leafiest hiding-places.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) soul

is so easy,so difficult...

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

Herlived in no cherished secrets of its own, but inwhich it longed to share with all the .

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) live

People who love downy peaches are apt not to think of the stone, and sometimes jar their teeth terribly against it.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) love

One can say everything best over a meal.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) best

"I like breakfast-time better than any other moment in the day," said Mr. Irwine. "No dust has settled on one's mind then, and it presents a clear mirror to the rays of things".

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) time

is like the mighty rivers that bless the earth: it does not wait for— it flows with resistlessand bringswith it.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) art

It seems to me now, if I was to find Father at home to-night, I should behave different; but there's no knowing — perhaps nothing 'ud be a lesson to us if it didn't come too late.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) home

It was the last weakness he meant to indulge in; and a man never lies with more delicious languor under the influence of a passion than when he has persuaded himself that he shall subdue it to-morrow.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) passion

There are so many of us, and our lots are so different, what wonder that Nature's mood is often in harsh contrast with the great crisis of our lives? We are children of a large family, and must learn, as such children do, not to expect that our hurts will be made much of — to be content with little nurture and caressing, and help each other the more.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) family

There is noso absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and to have recovered .

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) men

There's noi' living if you're to be corked up for ever, and only dribble yourout by the sly, like a leaky barrel.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) living

It is well known to all experienced minds that our firmest convictions are often dependent on subtle impressions for which words are quite too coarse a medium.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) words

Men's lives are as thoroughly blended with each other as the air they breathe: evil spreads as necessarily as disease.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) evil

Doubtless a great anguish may do the work of years, and we may come out from that baptism of fire with a soul full of new awe and new pity.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) soul

How is it that the poets have said so many fine things about our first love, so few about our later love? Are their first poems their best? Or are not those the best which come from their fuller thought, their larger experience, their deeper-rooted affections?

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) love

They kissed each other with a deep joy.What greater thing is there for two human souls, than to feel that they are joined for life — to strengthen each other in all labour, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each other in silent unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting?

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) life

You told me the truth when you said to me once, "There's a sort of wrong that can never be made up for".

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) truth

Come in, Adam, and rest; it has been a hard day for thee.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) day

He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) thought

Howiver, I'm not denyin' the women are foolish: God Almighty made 'em to match the men.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) women

It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly . There are certain things weto beand , and we mustafter them...

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) longing

andcan no more bear to lose sight of their objects than ...

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

Ouris determined for us — and it makes thevery free when we give up wishing and only think of bearing what is laid upon us and doing what is given us to do.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) free

I should like to know what is the proper function of women, if it is not to make reasons for husbands to stay at home, and still stronger reasons for bachelors to go out.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) women

I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs, and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) music

There is no , except the extremes ofand , that does not find relief in .

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) lie

I've never any pity for conceited people, because I think they carry their comfort about with them.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) people

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

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) memories

How lovely the little river is, with its dark changing wavelets! It seems to me like a living companion while I wander along the bank, and listen to its low, placid voice . . .

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) love

Better spend an extra hundred or two on your son's education, than leave it him in your will.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) education

These bitter sorrows of childhood! when sorrow is all new and strange, when hope has not yet got wings to fly beyond the days and weeks, and the space from summer to summer seems measureless.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) hope

We could never have loved theso well if we had had no childhood in it...

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) love

If a man means to be hard, let him keep in his saddle and speak from that height, above the level of pleading eyes, and with the command of a distant horizon.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) sad

Ugly and deformed people have great need of unusual virtues, because they are likely to be extremely uncomfortable without them.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) people

There was no gleam, no shadow, for the heavens, too, were one still, pale cloud; no sound or motion in anything but the dark river that flowed and moaned like an unresting sorrow.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) heaven

High achievements demand some other unusual qualification besides an unusual desire for high prizes.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) men

It is doubtful whether our soldiers would be maintained if there were not pacific people at home who like to fancy themselves soldiers. War, like other dramatic spectacles, might possibly cease for want of a "public."

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) people

If boys and men are to be welded together in the glow of transient feeling, they must be made of metal that will mix, else they inevitably fall asunder when the heat dies out.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) men

If I got places, sir, it was because I made myself fit for 'em. If you want to slip into a round hole, you must make a ball of yourself; that's where it is.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) self

It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them. How can we ever be satisfied without them until our feelings are deadened?

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) feelings

She and Stephen were in that stage of courtship which makes the most exquisite moment of youth, the freshest blossom-time of passion, — when each is sure of the other's love, but no formal declaration has been made, and all is mutual divination, exalting the most trivial word, the lightest gesture, into thrills delicate and delicious as wafted jasmine scent.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) love

One gets a of being unhappy.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) happy

There is something strangely winning to most women in that offer of the firm arm; the help is not wanted physically at that moment, but the sense of help, the presence of strength that is outside them and yet theirs, meets a continual want of the imagination.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) women

is never satisfied with anything short of an omniscience that would detect the subtlest fold of the .

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) science

More helpful than allis one draught of simple that will not forsake us.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) help

repairs her ravages, — repairs them with her sunshine, and withlabor. The desolation wrought by that flood had left little visible trace on the face of the earth, five years after. The fifth autumn was rich in golden cornstacks, rising in thick clusters among the distant hedgerows; the wharves and warehouses on the Floss were busy again, with echoes of eager voices, with hopeful lading and unlading. And every man and woman mentioned in this history was still living, except those whose end we know.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) hope

Nature repairs her ravages, but not all. The uptornare not rooted again; the parted hills are left scarred; if there is a new , the trees are not the same as the old, and the hills underneath their green vesture bear the marks of the past rending. To the eyes that have dwelt on the past, there is no thorough repair.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) art

Renunciation remains , though a sorrow borne willingly.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) sorrow

But then the need of being loved, the strongest need ... in poor Maggie’s nature, began to wrestle with her pride and soon threw it.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) love

In old days there werewho came and took men by theand led them away from the city of destruction. We see no white-winged angels now. But yet men are led away from threatening destruction: a hand is put into theirs, which leads them forth gently towards a calm and bright land, so that they look no more backward; and the hand may be a little child's.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) war

Do we not wile away moments of inanity or fatigued waiting by repeating some trivial movement or sound, until the repetition has bred a want, which is incipient habit?

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) men

When Squire Cass's standing dishes diminished in plenty and freshness, his guests had nothing to do but to walk a little higher up the village to Mr. Osgood's, at the Orchards, and they found hams and chines uncut, pork-pies with the scent of the fire in them, spun butter in all its freshness — everything, in fact, that appetites at leisure could desire, in perhaps greater perfection, though not in greater abundance, than at Squire Cass's.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) desire

The rich ate and drank freely, accepting gout and apoplexy as things that ran mysteriously in respectable families . . .

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) lies

That big muscular frame of his held plenty of animal courage, but helped him to no decision when the dangers to be braved were such as could neither be knocked down nor throttled.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) courage

The yoke a man creates for himself by wrong-doing will breed hate in the kindliest nature . . .

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) nature

A man will tell you that he has worked in a mine for forty years unhurt by an accident as a reason why he should apprehend no danger, though the roof is beginning to sink . . .

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) work

Instead of trying to still his fears, he encouraged them, with that superstitious impression which clings to us all, that if we expect evil very strongly it is the less likely to come . . .

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) fear

He had a sense that the old man meant to be good-natured and neighbourly; but the kindness fell on him as sunshine falls on the wretched — he had no heart to taste it, and felt that it was very far off him.

— George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) art

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