Quotes from George Eliot

The clergy are, practically, the most irresponsible of all talkers. [ Evangelical Teaching: Dr. Cumming, The Westminster Review, 1885. ]

Let my body dwell in poverty, and my hands be as the hands of the toiler; but let my soul be as a temple of remembrance where the treasures of knowledge enter and the inner sanctuary is hope.

Pride helps us; and pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our own hurts—not to hurt others.

Explain! Tell a man to explain how he dropped into hell! Explain my preference! I never had a preference for her, any more than I have a preference for breathing. No other woman exists by the side of her. I would rather touch her hand if it were dead, than I would touch any other woman's living.

People glorify all sorts of bravery except the bravery they might show on behalf of their nearest neighbors.

When death, the great Reconciler, has come, it is never our tenderness that we repent of, but our severity.

The memory has as many moods as the temper, and shifts its scenery like a diorama.

Pride only helps us to be generous; it never makes us so, any more than vanity makes us witty.

In old days there were angels who came and took men by the hand and led them away from the city of destruction. We see no white-winged angels now. But yet men are led away from threatening destruction: a hand is put into theirs, which leads them forth gently towards a calm and bright land, so that they look no more backward; and the hand may be a little child's.

The presence of a noble nature, generous in its wishes, ardent in its charity, changes the lights for us: we begin to see things again in their larger, quieter masses, and to believe that we too can be seen and judged in the wholeness of our character.

A man falling into dark waters seeks a momentary footing even on sliding stones.

If one is not to get into a rage sometimes, what is the good of being friends?