George Eliot Quotes

No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from.

Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music.

"Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love - that makes life and nature harmonise. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

[Letter to Miss Lewis, Oct. 1, 1841]

Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love.

Poor fellow! I think he is in love with you.'

I am not aware of it. And to me it is one of the most odious things in a girl's life, that there must always be some supposition of falling in love coming between her and any man who is kind to her... I have no ground for the nonsensical vanity of fancying everybody who comes near me is in love with me.

Adventure is not outside man; it is within.

..for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

Keep true. Never be ashamed of doing right. Decide what you think is right and stick to it.

But what we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.

What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?

Selfish — a judgment readily passed by those who have never tested their own power of sacrifice.

Animals are such agreeable friends — they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.

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

Hold up your head! You were not made for failure, you were made for victory. Go forward with a joyful confidence.

I am not imposed upon by fine words; I can see what actions mean.