1. “It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.”
2. “One must be poor to know the luxury of giving!”
3. “The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.”
4. “Failure after long perseverance is much grander than never to have a striving good enough to be called a failure.”
5. “The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.”
6. “Ignorance gives one a large range of probabilities.”
7. “The greatest blessing of mankind is their stupidity.”
8. “The dead weight of a failure had fallen on him.”
9. “Life could have no higher price than its utmost sacrifices.”
10. “It’s a terrible defect in a man’s character when he has no passion for anything.”
11. “What we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.”
12. “Pity that reason has so often an ugly mask on.”
13. “Our deeds are like children that are born to us; they live and act apart from our own will.”
14. “We are all of us born in moral stupidity, taking the world as an udder to feed our supreme selves.”
15. “There is no creature whose inward being is so strong that it is not greatly determined by what lies outside it.”
16. “There is nothing so good as money.”
17. “It is in the nature of things that many must be sacrificed for the sake of a few.”
18. “To be independent of public opinion is the first formal condition of achieving anything great.”
19. “Consequences are unpitying.”
20. “Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning.”
21. “Every limit is a beginning as well as an ending.”
22. “What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for each other?”
23. “Failure is the only opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”
24. “It is always fatal to have music or poetry interrupted.”
25. “What makes life dreary is the want of motive.”
26. “A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.”
27. “Sensible women have no need of paradoxes.”
28. “To be happy is not the purpose for which you are placed in the world.”
29. “The beauty of things was born before eyes and sufficient to itself.”
30. “It is easy to condemn when we do not feel the temptations.”
31. “Will not a tiny speck very close to our vision blot out the glory of the world, and leave only a margin by which we see the blot?”
32. “The trouble lies in wanting too much.”
33. “A woman dictates before marriage in order that she may have an appetite for submission afterward.”
34. “Men know best about everything, except what women know better.”
35. “A man’s mind—what there is of it—has always the advantage of being masculine, as the smallest birch-tree is of a higher kind than the most soaring palm.”
36. “It is a terrible moment when someone first gives evidence of his baseness.”
37. “We are on a perilous margin when we begin to look passively at our future selves.”
38. “It is so painful in you, Celia, that you will look at human beings as if they were merely animals with a toilet.”
39. “Opinions which are not supported by feelings have a tendency to die away.”
40. “Our deeds still travel with us from afar, and what we have been makes us
41. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
42. “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 us; and pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our own hurts—not to hurt others.”
43. “There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.”
44. “No man can escape to himself, but he may know good of himself.”
45. “Our faith is faith in someone else’s faith, and in the greatest matters this is most the case.”
46. “Happiness is a great love and much serving.”
47. “But it is never allowable to say, ‘My child is not remarkable; he is the image of me.'”
48. “The responsibility of tolerance lies with those who have the wider vision.”
49. “In marriage, the certainty, ‘She will never love me much,’ is easier to bear than the fear, ‘I shall love her no more.'”
50. “Every limit is a beginning as well as an ending.”
Summary of “Middlemarch”:
“Middlemarch” is a novel set in the fictional town of Middlemarch in England during the early 19th century. It follows the lives of several interconnected characters and explores themes of marriage, ambition, social change, and personal growth.
The main protagonist, Dorothea Brooke, is a young and idealistic woman who aspires to make a difference in the world. She marries the elderly Reverend Edward Casaubon, hoping to assist him in his scholarly pursuits. However, she soon realizes that her marriage lacks love and intellectual fulfillment.
Another central character is Tertius Lydgate, a talented and ambitious doctor who arrives in Middlemarch with progressive ideas about medicine. He faces challenges in his profession and becomes entangled in a doomed marriage with Rosamond Vincy, a beautiful but shallow woman.
The novel also delves into the lives of other characters, including Fred Vincy, a young man struggling with debts and his love for Mary Garth, and Will Ladislaw, an artist who becomes involved with Dorothea. Through their stories, George Eliot portrays the complexities of human nature, the limitations imposed by societal expectations, and the consequences of individual choices.
“Middlemarch” is renowned for its rich characterization, intricate plotting, and insightful exploration of human relationships and moral dilemmas. It presents a panoramic view of a provincial society undergoing social and political changes, while highlighting the universal themes of love, ambition, and the search for meaning in life.
