George Eliot Quotes

One must be poor to know the luxury of giving!
George Eliot

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

What do we live for; if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?
George Eliot

Acting is nothing more or less than playing. The idea is to humanize life.
George Eliot

Be courteous, be obliging, but don't give yourself over to be melted down for the benefit of the tallow trade.
George Eliot

Adventure is not outside man; it is within.
George Eliot

Perhaps the most delightful friendships are those in which there is much agreement, much disputation, and yet more personal liking.
George Eliot

It's never too late to be who you might have been.
George Eliot

Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles.
George Eliot

Anger and jealousy can no more bear to lose sight of their objects than love.
George Eliot

The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.
George Eliot

Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; unbelief, in denying them.
George Eliot

What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined... to strengthen each other... to be one with each other in silent unspeakable memories.
George Eliot

Our words have wings, but fly not where we would.
George Eliot

The responsibility of tolerance lies with those who have the wider vision.
George Eliot

Failure after long perseverance is much grander than never to have a striving good enough to be called a failure.
George Eliot

Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.
George Eliot

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

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.
George Eliot

There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.
George Eliot

The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.
George Eliot

It is easy to say how we love new friends, and what we think of them, but words can never trace out all the fibers that knit us to the old.
George Eliot

Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.
George Eliot

The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.
George Eliot

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.
George Eliot

Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand.
George Eliot