George Eliot: Quotes
- Action
Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.: Adam Bede
- Animals
Animals are such agreeable friends—they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.: Scenes of Clerical Life
- Children and Childhood
Little children are still the symbol of the eternal marriage between love and duty.: Ro- mola
- Choice
The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice.: Daniel Deronda
- Conceit, Egotism, and Vanity
I've never any pity for conceited people, because I think they carry their comfort about with them.: The Mill on the Floss
- Despair
But what we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.: Middlemarch
- Disappointment
Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand.: Silas Marner
- Gifts and Giving
One must be poor to know the luxury of giving.: Middlemarch
- Humor and Wit
A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.: Daniel Deronda
- Jealousy and Envy
Anger and jealousy can no more bear to lose sight of their objects than love.: The Mill on the Floss
- Men
Men's men: gentle or simple, they're much of a muchness.: Daniel Deronda
- Men and Women
I'm not denyin' the women are foolish: God Almighty made 'em to match the men.: Adam Bede
- Men and Women
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.: The Mill on the Floss
- Mercy and Compassion
We hand folks over to God's mercy, and show none ourselves.: Adam Bede
- Politics and Politicians
An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.: Felix Holt
- Prediction
Among all forms of mistake, prophecy is the most gratuitous.: Middlemarch
- Self-Righteousness
Opposition may become sweet to a man when he has christened it persecution.: Janet's Repentance
- Silence
Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.: Impressions of Theophrastus Such
- The Ordinary
If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence.: Middlemarch
- Women
The happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history.: The Mill on the Floss
- Youth
If youth is the season of hope, it is often so only in the sense that our elders are hopeful about us; for no age is so apt as youth to think its emotions, partings, and resolves are the last of their kind.: Middlemarch