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George Eliot

George Eliot Quotes

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Famous George Eliot Quotes

“Two angels guide The path of man, both aged and yet young. As angels are, ripening through endless years, On one he leans: some call her Memory, And some Tradition; and her voice is sweet, With deep mysterious accords: the other, Floating above, holds down a lamp with streams A light divine and searching on the earth, Compelling eyes and footsteps. Memory yields, Yet clings with loving check, and shines anew, Reflecting all the rays of that bright lamp Our angel Reason holds. We had not walked But for Tradition; we walk evermore To higher paths by brightening Reason's lamp.”

MenYearsTwoReasonLightEyeEarthYoungVoiceMemoriesWalksPathDivineSweetHigherAngelTraditionShiningGuidesEndlessChecksMysteriousStreamsYieldRaysCompellingFloatingLampsReflectingAccordFootstepsEvermoreRipening
Book:Complete Works Of George Eliot
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“Shepperton Church was a very different looking building five-and-twenty years ago. To be sure, its substantial stone tower looks at you through its intelligent eye, the clock, with the friendly expression of former days; but in everything else what changes!”

YearsLooksBookDifferentEyeChurchFiveBuildingExpressionYears AgoStonesTwentiesIntelligentFormerClockFriendlyTowers
Book:Silas Marner and Scenes of Clerical Life
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“In the days when the spinning wheels hummed busily in the farmhouses--and even great ladies, clothed in silk and thread lace, had their toy spinning wheels of polished oak--there might be seen, in districts far away among the lanes, or deep in the bosom of the hills, certain palled undersized men who, by the side of the brawny country-folk, looked like the remnants of a disinherited race.”

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Book:Four Novels of George Eliot
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“Mighty is the force of motherhood! It transforms all things by its vital heat; it turns timidity into fierce courage, and dreadless defiance into tremulous submission; it turns thoughtlessness into foresight, and yet stills all anxiety into calm content; it makes selfishness become self-denial, and gives even to hard vanity the glance of admiring love.”

GivingStillsSelfHardTurnsForceAnxietyAll ThingsCalmMotherhoodVanityDenialSelfishnessHeatFierceGlancesSubmissionDefianceForesightAdmiringTimiditySelf-denialThoughtlessness
Book:Scenes of Clerical Life
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“Dark the Night, with breath all flowers, And tender broken voice that fills With ravishment the listening hours,-- Whisperings, wooings, Liquid ripples, and soft ring-dove cooings In low-toned rhythm that love's aching stills! Dark the night Yet is she bright, For in her dark she brings the mystic star, Trembling yet strong, as is the voice of love, From some unknown afar.”

StillsNightStrongStarsVoiceHoursDarkFlowerBrokenListeningLowsBreathsRingsRhythmLiquidMysticWhisperingDoveTremblingRippleAfarWooing
Book:The Complete Works of George Eliot in Eighteen Volumes: Poems
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“Lord! Thou art with Thy people still; they see Thee in the night-watches, and their hearts burn within them as Thou talkest with them by the way. And Thou art near to those that have not known Thee; open their eyes that they may see Thee--see Thee weeping over them, and saying, "Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life"--see Thee hanging on the cross and saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"--see Thee as Thou wilt come again in Thy glory to judge them at the last. Amen.”

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Book:Adam Bede
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