George Eliot Quotes About Love, Life and Friendship
May 28, 2022 5:00 AM EST
We hope you enjoy this amazing collection of George Eliot quotes!
Eliot might be from the Victorian era, but the words of this timeless author and journalist provide motivation, inspiration and wisdom about human nature that is relevant to our day-to-day lives.
We had a lot of fun searching for some of our favorite motivational George Eliot quotes!
If you like this article, we suggest you explore our most popular quotes article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily encouragement.
Check out more inspirational quotes on our motivational quotes category page.
George Eliot Quotes About Love, Life and Friendship
1. “It is always fatal to have music or poetry interrupted.” – George Eliot
!["It is always fatal to have music or poetry interrupted." - George Eliot George Eliot Quotes about music and poetry](images/george-eliot-quotes-about-love.png)
2. “Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music.” – George Eliot
!["Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music.” - George Eliot George Eliot Quotes about life](images/george-eliot-quotes-about-life.png)
3. “Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.” – George Eliot
!["Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another." - George Eliot George Eliot Quotes about blessings](images/george-eliot-quotes-about-friendship.png)
4. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
!["It is never too late to be what you might have been." - George Eliot George Eliot Quotes about dreams](images/inspirational-george-eliot-quotes.png)
5. “Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms.” – George Eliot
!["Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms." - George Eliot George Eliot Quotes about animals](images/thought-provoking-george-eliot-quotes.png)
6. “Best friend, my well-spring in the wilderness!” – George Eliot
!["Best friend, my well-spring in the wilderness!" - George Eliot George Eliot Quotes about friends](images/george-eliot-quotes-and-sayings.png)
7. “It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses we must plant more trees.” – George Eliot
!["It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses we must plant more trees." - George Eliot wise George Eliot Quotes](images/george-eliot-quotes-to-inspire-you.png)
8. “Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.” – George Eliot
!["Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them." - George Eliot George Eliot Quotes about the dead](images/george-eliot-quotes-to-motivate.png)
9. “What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?” – George Eliot
!["What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?" - George Eliot George Eliot Quotes about life](images/powerful-george-eliot-quotes.png)
10. “Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles.” – George Eliot
!["Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles." - George Eliot George Eliot Quotes about smiling](images/george-eliot-quotes.png)
Inspirational George Eliot Quotes about friendship
11. “What greater thing is there for two human souls, than to feel that they are joined for life–to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each other in silent unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting?” – George Eliot
12. “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.” – George Eliot
13. “And, of course men know best about everything, except what women know better.” – George Eliot
14. “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
15. “We mortals, men and women, devour many a disappointment between breakfast and dinner-time; keep back the tears and look a little pale about the lips, and in answer to inquiries say, “Oh, nothing!” Pride helps; and pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our hurts— not to hurt others.” – George Eliot
16. “My own experience and development deepen everyday my conviction that our moral progress may be measured by the degree in which we sympathize with individual suffering and individual joy.” – George Eliot
17. “I wish to use my last hours of ease and strength in telling the strange story of my experience. I have never fully unbosomed myself to any human being; I have never been encouraged to trust much in the sympathy of my fellow-men.” – George Eliot
18. “Our deeds are like children that are born to us; they live and act apart from our own will. Nay, children may be strangled, but deeds never: they have an indestructible life both in and out of our consciousness.” – George Eliot
19. “An ass may bray a good while before he shakes the stars down.” – George Eliot
20. “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
21. “The darkest night that ever fell upon the earth never hid the light, never put out the stars. It only made the stars more keenly, kindly glancing, as if in protest against the darkness.” – George Eliot
22. “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
23. “The difficulty is, to decide how far resolution should set in the direction of activity rather than in the acceptance of a more negative state.” – George Eliot
24. “Examining the world in order to find consolation is very much like looking carefully over the pages of a great book in order to find our own name. … Whether we find what we want or not, our preoccupation has hindered us from a true knowledge of the contents.” – George Eliot
25. “That modern sect of Flagellants who make a ritual of lashing — not themselves but — all their neighbours.” – George Eliot
26. “It’s but little good you’ll do a-watering the last year’s crop.” – George Eliot
George Eliot Quotes about life
27. “You know nothing about Hope, that immortal, delicious maiden forever courted forever propitious, whom fools have called deceitful, as if it were Hope that carried the cup of disappointment, whereas it is her deadly enemy, Certainty, whom she only escapes by transformation.” – George Eliot
28. “It’s them as take advantage that get advantage i’ this world.” – George Eliot
29. “I like not only to be loved, but also to be told that I am loved. I am not sure that you are of the same mind. But the realm of silence is large enough beyond the grave. This is the world of light and speech, and I shall take leave to tell you that you are very dear.” – George Eliot
30. “The happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history.” – George Eliot
31. “A maggot must be born in the rotten cheese to like it.” – George Eliot
32. “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.” – George Eliot
33. “In every parting there is an image of death.” – George Eliot
34. “We hand folks over to God’s mercy, and show none ourselves.” – George Eliot
35. “Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.” – George Eliot
36. “A friend is one to whom one may pour out the contents of one’s heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that gentle hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.” – George Eliot
37. “It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.” – George Eliot
38. “Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.” – George Eliot
George Eliot quotes about love
39. “Be courteous, be obliging, but don’t give yourself over to be melted down for the benefit of the tallow trade.” – George Eliot
40. “I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music.” – George Eliot
41. “Ignorance gives one a large range of probabilities.” – George Eliot
42. “The beginning of compunction is the beginning of a new life.” – George Eliot
43. “The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.” – George Eliot
44. “The reward of one duty is the power to fulfill another.” – George Eliot
45. “The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.” – George Eliot
46. “We are all apt to believe what the world believes about us.” – George Eliot
47. “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
48. “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
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of gossip quotes that will help you eliminate rumors from your life.
49. “It is surely better to pardon too much, than to condemn too much.”― George Eliot
50. “I am not imposed upon by fine words; I can see what actions mean.”― George Eliot
Thought-provoking George Eliot quotes
51. “People are almost always better than their neighbors think they are.”― George Eliot
52. “No story is the same to us after a lapse of time; or rather we who read it
are no longer the same interpreters.”― George Eliot
53. “One can begin so many things with a new person! – even begin to be a better man.”― George Eliot
54. “Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand.”― George Eliot
55. “One must be poor to know the luxury of giving.”― George Eliot
56. “We have all got to exert ourselves a little to keep sane, and call things by the same names as other people call them by.”― George Eliot
57. “Blameless people are always the most exasperating.”― George Eliot
58. “It is better – it shall be better with me because I have known you.”― George Eliot
59. “I think I dislike what I don’t like more than I like what I like.”― George Eliot
60. “I like not only to be loved, but also to be told I am loved”― George Elliot
More George Eliot quotes and sayings
61. “Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love.” – George Eliot
62. “If one is not to get into a rage sometimes, what is the good of being friends?” – George Eliot
63. “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
64. “I never had any preference for her, any more than I have a preference for breathing.” – George Eliot
65. “I should never like scolding anyone else so well; and that is a point to be thought of in a husband.” – George Eliot
66. “A woman may get to love by degrees—the best fire does not flare up the soonest.” – George Eliot
67. “Where women love each other, men learn to smother their mutual dislike.” – George Eliot
68. “I am afraid of nothing but that we should miss the passing of our lives together.” – George Eliot
69. “It will always remain true that if we had been greater, circumstance would have been less strong against us.” – George Eliot
70. “It is not true that love makes all things easy, it makes us chose things that are difficult.” – George Eliot
Which George Eliot quotes were your favorite?
Do you have any other inspirational quotes to add?
Tell us in the comment section below!!
Muhammad Imtiaz
June 1, 2021 at 6:39 AM
Its a great piece of work on George Eliot quotes. Keep it up.
Lexie
November 26, 2020 at 10:48 PM
George Eliot was a woman… just letting y’all know.