11 Best George Eliot Quotes

“She was usually spoken of as being remarkably clever, but with the addition that her sister Celia had more common-sense.”

Narrator's introduction of Dorothea Brooke in the opening chapter, highlighting her intelligence and the town's perception of her.

“If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.”

Narrator's reflection in Chapter 20, on the limits of human empathy and the overwhelming nature of full awareness.

“What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?”

Dorothea's words to Lydgate in Chapter 72, expressing her philosophy of compassion and mutual support.

“I am not a little bird, to be caught by a chaff; I am a human being, and I have a will.”

Dorothea's defiant response to Casaubon's attempts to control her, in Chapter 37.

“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.”

The final lines of the novel's epilogue, reflecting on the significance of ordinary, uncelebrated lives.

“It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.”

Narrator's comment in Chapter 10, on the limitations of provincial thinking.

“There is no general doctrine which is not capable of eating out our morality if we do not fear it or if we do not put it in its place.”

Narrator's reflection in Chapter 61, on the dangers of rigid ideology.

“A man who has a little income and a little love for his fellow-men may be very happy.”

Narrator's reflection on Silas's life after he adopts Eppie, showing the shift from wealth to human connection.

“The gold had turned into a child.”

Narrator's description of Silas's realization when he finds Eppie, replacing his lost hoard with a living treasure.

“Our thoughts are often worse than we are, just as they are often better.”

Narrator's comment on Godfrey's self-judgment and the complexity of human morality.

“The sense of a common humanity is the only thing that can make us feel for our fellow-men.”

Narrator's reflection on the community's response to Silas's loss, emphasizing shared empathy.