George Eliot quotes - page 15

But ere the laughter died from out the rear, Anger in front saw profanation near; Jubal was but a name in each man's faith For glorious power untouched by that slow death Which creeps with creeping time. (George Eliot)
Sudden and near the trumpet's notes out-spread, And soon his eyes could see the metal flower, Shining upturned, out on the morning pour Its incense audible; could see a train From out the street slow-winding on the plain With lyres and cymbals, flutes and psalteries, While men, youths, maids, in concert sang to these With various throat, or in succession poured, Or in full volume mingled. But one word Ruled each recurrent rise and answering fall, As when the multitudes adoring call On some great name divine, their common soul, The common need, love, joy, that knits them in one whole. The word was "Jubal!"... "Jubal" filled the air, And seemed to ride aloft, a spirit there, Creator of the choir, the full-fraught strain That grateful rolled itself to him again. The aged man adust upon the bank - Whom no eye saw - at first with rapture drank The bliss of music, then, with swelling heart, Felt, this was his own being's greater part, The universal joy once born in him. View quote
George Eliot
Friendship is the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words. View quote
George Eliot
No man can be wise on an empty stomach. View quote
George Eliot
May every soul that touches mine Be it the slightest contact Get therefrom some good Some little grace one kindly thought One aspiration yet unfelt One bit of courage For the darkening sky One gleam of faith To brave the thickening ills of life One glimpse of brighter skies Beyond the gathering mists To make this life worth while. View quote
George Eliot
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. View quote
George Eliot
We want people to feel with us more than to act for us. View quote
George Eliot
I like not only to be loved, but to be told that I am loved the realm of silence is large enough beyond the grave. View quote
George Eliot
Life is too precious to be spent in this weaving and unweaving of false impressions, and it is better to live quietly under some degree of misrepresentation than to attempt to remove it by the uncertain process of letter-writing. View quote
George Eliot
To manage men, one ought to have a sharp mind in a velvet sheath. View quote
George Eliot
A patronizing disposition always has its meaner side. (George Eliot)
It is easy finding reasons why other folks should be patient. View quote
George Eliot
Power of generalizing gives men so much the superiority in mistake over the dumb animals. View quote
George Eliot
A medical man likes to make psychological observations, and sometimes in the pursuit of such studies is too easily tempted into momentous prophecy which life and death easily set at nought. View quote
George Eliot
No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence. View quote
George Eliot
There is no general doctrine which is not capable of eating out our morality if unchecked by the deep-seated habit of direct fellow-feeling with individual fellow-men. View quote
George Eliot
Oh may I join the choir invisible Of those immortal dead who live again In minds made better by their presence. View quote
George Eliot
I beg your pardon: correct English is the slang of prigs who write history and essays. And the strongest slang of all is the slang of poets. View quote
George Eliot
Somebody put a drop under a magnifying-glass and it was all semicolons and parentheses. View quote
George Eliot
Upon my word, I think the truth is the hardest missile one can be pelted with. View quote
George Eliot
Friendships begin with liking or gratitude roots that can be pulled up. (George Eliot)
I shall do everything it becomes me to do. View quote
George Eliot
It is very difficult to be learned; it seems as if people were worn out on the way to great thoughts, and can never enjoy them because they are too tired. View quote
George Eliot
But Duty has a trick of behaving unexpectedly--something like a heavy friend whom we have amiably asked to visit us, and who breaks his leg within our gates. View quote
George Eliot
A man vows, and yet will not east away the means of breaking his vow. Is it that he distinctly means to break it? Not at all; but the desires which tend to break it are at work in him dimly, and make their way into his imagination, and relax his muscles in the very moments when he is telling himself over again the reasons for his vow. View quote
George Eliot