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Quotes by George Eliot
A Tragedy. For strong souls Live like fire-hearted suns; to spend their strength In furthest striving action.— filed under Action
Affection is the broadest basis of good in life.— filed under Affection
A man deep-wounded may feel too much pain What, drunk with choler? To feel much anger.— filed under Anger
Anger seeks its prey, - Something to tear with sharp-edged tooth and claw, Likes not to go off hungry, leaving Love To feast on milk and honeycomb at will.— filed under Anger
A blush is no language: only a dubious flagsignal which may mean either of two contradictories.— filed under Blushes
C. There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.— filed under Character
Childhood has no forebodings; but then, it is soothed by no memories of outlived sorrow.— filed under Childhood
The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.— filed under Choice
I've never any pity for conceited people, because I think they carry their comfort about with them.— filed under Conceit
Lines. Conscience is harder than our enemies, Knows more, accuses with more nicety.— filed under Conscience
Xerxes the great did die; And so must you and I. From the New England Primer. 1814. Death is the king of this world: 'tis his park Where he breeds life to feed him. Cries of pain Are music for his banquet.— filed under Death
O that grave speech would cumber our quick souls Like bells that waste the moments with their loudness.— filed under Demosthenes
Speech is but broken light upon the depth Of the unspoken.— filed under Demosthenes
Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.— filed under Deeds
No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence.— filed under Desolation
The dew-bead Gem of earth and sky begotten. C.— filed under Dew
Self-Reliance. What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?— filed under Distrust
And rank for her meant duty, various, Yet equal in its worth, done worthily. Command was service; humblest service done By willing and discerning souls was glory.— filed under Duty
The reward of one duty is the power to fulfil another.— filed under Duty
Other Small Poems. The Sea in Calm. Pt. III. Mysterious haunts of echoes old and far, The voice divine of human loyalty.— filed under Echo
I think there are stores laid up in our human nature that our understandings can make no complete inventory of.— filed under Experience
A suppressed resolve will betray itself in the eyes.— filed under Eyes
Epilogue. Then Naldo: "'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."— filed under Fame
Fate has carried me 'Mid the thick arrows: I will keep my stand.- Not shrink and let the shaft pass by my breast To pierce another.— filed under Fate
We are not apt to fear for the fearless, when we are companions in their danger.— filed under Fear
The moment of finding a fellow-creature is often as full of mingled doubt and exultation, as the moment of finding an idea.— filed under Festivities
in Bereavement. But faithfulness can feed on suffering, And knows no disappointment.— filed under Fire
Rose. It never will rain roses: when we want To have more roses we must plant more trees.— filed under Flowers-Rose
The tread Of coming footsteps cheats the midnight watcher Who holds her heart and waits to hear them pause, And hears them never pause, but pass and die.— filed under Footsteps
Animals are such agreeable friends-they no ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. h. questions, they pass no criticisms.— filed under Friends
ELIOT-The Spanish Gypsy. Bk. III. Friend more divine than all divinities.— filed under George
Where you have friends you should not go inns. to inns.— filed under George
Friendships begin with liking or gratituderoots that can be pulled up.— filed under Friendship
So, if I live or die to serve my friend, 'Tis for my love-'tis for my friend alone, And not for any rate that friendship bears In heaven or on earth. C.— filed under Friendship
He who loves God and his law must hate the foes of God.— filed under God
Gossip is a sort of smoke that comes from the dirty tobacco-pipes of those who diffuse it; it proves nothing but the bad taste of the smoker.— filed under Gossip
Private of the Buffs. No great deed is done By falterers who ask for certainty.— filed under Greatness
(supposed) Mistress. When you see fair hair Be pitiful. C.— filed under Hair
There are glances of hatred that stab and raise no cry of murder. aa.— filed under Hatred
Hopes have precarious life. They are oft blighted, withered, snapped sheer off In vigorous growth and turned to rottenness.— filed under Hope
Ignorance gives one a large range of probabilities.— filed under Ignorance
Blessed influence of one true loving human soul on another.— filed under Influence
O may I join the choir invisible Of those immortal dead who live again In minds made better by their presence; live In pulses stirred to generosity, In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn For miserable aims that end with self. In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, And with their mild persistence urge man's search To vaster issues.— filed under Influence
Anger and jealousy can no more bear to lose sight of their objects than love.— filed under Jealousy
Jealousy is never satisfied with anything short of an omniscience that would detect the subtlest fold of the heart.— filed under Jealousy
The Jews are among the aristocracy of every land; if a literature is called rich in the possession of a few classic tragedies, what shall we say to a national tragedy lasting for fifteen hundred years, in which the poets and the actors were also the heroes.— filed under Jews
Our joy is dead, and only smiles on us.— filed under Joy
We judge others according to results; how else?-not knowing the process by which results are arrived at.— filed under Judgment
Kisses honeyed by oblivion.— filed under Kisses
P. 74. Life's a vast sea That does its mighty errand without fail, Painting in unchanged strength though waves are changing.— filed under Life
Emigrant. But is it what we love, or how we love, That makes true good?— filed under Love
I think we had the chief of all love's joys Only in knowing that we love each other.— filed under Love
'Tis what I love determines how I love.— filed under Love
Women know no perfect love: Loving the strong, they can forsake the strong; Man clings because the being whom he loves Is weak and needs him.— filed under Love
As they who make Good luck a god count all unlucky men.— filed under Luck
The worst of misery Is when a nature framed for noblest things Condemns itself in youth to petty joys, And, sore athirst for air, breathes scanty life Gasping from out the shallows.— filed under Misery
Othello. What makes life dreary is the want of motive.— filed under Motive
For there is no feeling, perhaps, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music-that does not make a man sing or play the better.— filed under Music
Music sweeps by me as a messenger Carrying a message that is not for me.— filed under Music
'Tis God gives skill, But not without men's hands: He could not make Antonio Stradivari's violins Without Antonio.— filed under Music
Sonnets. XVIII. Night. Dark the Night, with breath all flowers, And tender broken voice that fills With ravishment the listening hours,- Whisperings, wooings, Liquid ripples, and soft ring-dove cooings In low-toned rhythm that love's aching stills! Dark the night Yet is she bright, For in her dark she brings the mystic star, Trembling yet strong, as is the voice of love, From some unknown afar.— filed under Night
O radiant Dark! O darkly fostered ray! Thou hast a joy too deep for shallow Day.— filed under Night
These gems have life in them: their colors speak, Say what words fail of.— filed under December
Kiss. In every parting there is an image of death.— filed under Parting
More helpful than all wisdom is one draught of simple human pity that will not forsake us.— filed under Pity
Grant folly's prayers that hinder folly's wish, And serve the ends of wisdom.— filed under Prayer
All things journey: sun and moon, Morning, noon, and afternoon, Night and all her stars; 'Twixt the east and western bars Round they journey, Come and go! We go with them!— filed under Progression
That is the bitterest of all, to wear the yoke of our own wrong-doing.— filed under Punishment
Literature. Quotation. A book which hath been culled from the flowers of all books. bb.— filed under Quotation
Two angels guide The path of man, both aged and yet young, As angels are, ripening through endless years, On one he leans: some call her Memory, And some Tradition; and her voice is sweet, With deep mysterious accords: the other, Floating above, holds down a lamp which streams A light divine and searching on the earth, Compelling eyes and footsteps. Memory yields, Yet clings with loving check, and shines anew, Reflecting all the rays of that bright lamp Our angel Reason holds. We had not walked But for Tradition; we walk evermore To higher paths by brightening Reason's lamp.— filed under Reason
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.— filed under Results
A man's a man, But when you see a king, you see the work Of many thousand men.— filed under Royalty
Susceptible persons are more affected by a change of tone than by unexpected words.— filed under Sensibility
I couldn't live in peace if I put the shadow of a wilful sin between myself and God.— filed under Sin
There are *** robberies that leave man or woman forever beggared of peace and joy, yet kept secret by the sufferer.— filed under Slander
Chamouni. The stars are golden fruit upon a tree All out of reach.— filed under Stars
The human heart Finds nowhere shelter but in human kind.— filed under Sympathy
But certain winds will make men's temper bad. น.— filed under Temper
Subsec. XIII. The devil tempts us not-'tis we tempt him, Reckoning his skill with opportunity.— filed under Temptation
For thoughts are so great-aren't they, sir? They seem to lie upon us like a deep flood.— filed under Thought
Our growing thought Makes growing revelation.— filed under Thought
In travelling I shape myself betimes to idleness And take fools' pleasure.— filed under Travelling
Dear, I trusted you As holy men trust God. You could do naught That was not pure and loving,-though the deed Might pierce me unto death.— filed under Trust
Truth has rough flavours if we bite it through.— filed under Truth
Beauteous Night lay dead Under the pall of twilight, and the love-star sickened and shrank.— filed under Twilight
When our two lives grew like two buds that kiss At lightest thrill from the bee's swinging chime, Because the one so near the other is.— filed under Unity
Vanity is as ill at ease under indifference as tenderness is under a love which it cannot return.— filed under Vanity
Perhaps the wind Wails so in winter for the summer's dead, And all sad sounds are nature's funeral cries For what has been and is not.— filed under Wind
DONNE-The Triple Fool. Man thinks Brutes have no wisdom, since they know not his: Can we divine their world?— filed under Wisdom
For the beauty of a lovely woman is like music.— filed under Woman
Her lot is made for her by the love she accepts.— filed under Woman
Our words have wings, but fly not where we would.— filed under Words
What if my words Were meant for deeds.— filed under Words