George Eliot

The responsibility of tolerance lies in those who have the wider vision.

Do we not wile away moments of inanity or fatigued waiting by repeating some trivial movement or sound, until the repetition has bred a want, which is incipient habit?

Perhaps the most delightful friendships are those in which there is much agreement, much disputation, and yet more personal liking.

What makes life dreary is the want of a motive.

No compliment can be eloquent, except as an expression of indifference.

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 kind. 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.

A crank is someone with a new idea – until it catches on.

It were endless to dispute upon everything that is disputable.

Undeservedly you will atone for the sins of your fathers.

Eat therefore to live, and do not live to eat.

Harold, like the rest of us, had many impressions which saved him the trouble of distinct ideas.

To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour.

You cannot spend money in luxury without doing good to the poor. Nay, you do more good to them by spending it in luxury, than by giving it; for by spending it in luxury, you make them exert industry, whereas by giving it, you keep them idle.

The function of vice is to keep virtue within reasonable bounds.

Do the thing we fear, and the death of fear is certain.

One night awaits all, and death’s path must be trodden once and for all.

The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it.

I am not able to instruct you. I can only tell that I have chosen wrong. I have passed my time in study without experience; in the attainment of sciences which can, for the most part, be but remotely useful to mankind. I have purchased knowledge at the expense of all the common comforts of life: I have missed the endearing elegance of female friendship, and the happy commerce of domestic tenderness.

He never does a proper thing without giving an improper reason for it.

Passion is the mob of the man, that commits a riot upon his reason.

I don’t think the human mind can comprehend the past and the future. They are both just illusions that can manipulate you into thinking theres some kind of change.