George Eliot

How lovely the little river is, with its dark changing wavelets! It seems to me like a living companion while I wander along the bank, and listen to its low, placid voice…

Marriage must be a relation either of sympathy or of conquest.

Might, could, would – they are contemptible auxiliaries.

We hand folks over to God’s mercy, and show none ourselves.

Human beings must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.

People who can’t be witty exert themselves to be devout and affectionate.

Find people who will make you better.

The wilderness is near as well as dear to every man. Even the oldest villages are indebted to the border of wild wood which surrounds them, more than to the gardens of men. There is something indescribably inspiriting and beautiful in the aspect of the forest skirting and occasionally jutting into the midst of new towns, which, like the sand-heaps of fresh fox-burrows, have sprung up in their midst. The very uprightness of the pines and maples asserts the ancient rectitude and vigor of nature. Our lives need the relief of such a background, where the pine flourishes and the jay still screams.

Put an Irishman on the spit and you can always get another Irishman to turn him.

See only that thou work and thou canst not escape the reward.

Between his consciousness and events stood always that impenetrable medium – indifference.

Danger – if you meet it promptly and without flinching – you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!

Things do not change; we change.

Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue.

If a man sits down to think, he is immediately asked if has a headache.

The pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.

Let a man then know his worth, and keep things under his feet. Let him not peep or steal, or skulk up and down with the air of a charity-boy, a bastard, or an interloper.

I am not bound over to swear allegiance to any master; where the storm drives me I turn in for shelter.

It is not best that we should all think alike; it is a difference of opinion that makes horse races.

A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.

The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.