All Quotes
2989 quotes in total
“Unsigned article reprinted in The Essays of “George Eliot.” Complete.”
“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 . Letter to Charles Bray”
“If art does not enlarge men's sympathies, it does nothing morally. Letter to Charles Bray”
“ubi saeva indignatio ulterius cor lacerare nequit”
“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. Felix Holt, the Radical”
“An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry. Felix Holt, the Radical”
“'Tis God gives skill, But not without men's hands : He could not make Antonio Stradivari's violins Without Antonio. Stradivarius”
“Apropos of the " The Lifted Veil ," I think it will not be judicious to reprint it at present. I care for the idea which it embodies, and which justifies its painfulness. A motto which I wrote on it yesterday perhaps is a sufficient indication of that idea:”
“Comments on The Lifted Veil with a motto for it used in the "Cabinet Edition" of her works (1878), in a letter to John Blackwood (28 February 1873), published in George Eliot's Life as Related in Her Letters and Journals (1885), Vol. 4”
“This means no more than vae victis”
“And once, in spite of the men who gripped him by each shoulder, he stepped slightly aside to avoid a puddle on the path. It is curious, but till that moment I had never realised what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious man. When I saw the prisoner step aside to avoid the puddle, I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide. This man was not dying, he was alive just as we were alive. All the organs of his body were working”
“In England, a century of strong government has developed what O. Henry called the stern and rugged fear of the police to a point where any public protest seems an indecency. But in France everyone can remember a certain amount of civil disturbance, and even the workmen in the bistros talk of la revolution”
“As to a pseudonym, a name I always use when tramping etc is P. S. Burton, but if you don't think this sounds a probable kind of name, what about Kenneth Miles, George Orwell, H. Lewis Allways. I rather favour George Orwell. Letter to Leonard Moore”
“The Collected Essays, Journalism & Letters, George Orwell: An Age Like This, 1920”
“Man is not a Yahoo, but he is rather like a Yahoo and needs to be reminded of it from time to time. Review of Tropic of Cancer , in New English Weekly”
“Think of life as it really is, think of the details of life; and then think that there is no meaning in it, no purpose, no goal except the grave. Surely only fools or self”
“It is a mysterious thing, the loss of faith”
“There is a geographical element in all belief”
“I am struck again by the fact that as soon as a working man gets an official post in the Trade Union or goes into Labour politics, he becomes middle”
“Nothing is a greater stranger to my breast, or a sin that my soul more abhors, than that black and detestable one, ingratitude. Letter to Governor Dinwiddie”
“Tis true, I profess myself a Votary to Love”
“Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all. Letter of Instructions to the Captains of the Virginia Regiments”
“The General is sorry to be informed”
“Unhappy it is though to reflect, that a Brother's Sword has been sheathed in a Brother's breast, and that, the once happy and peaceful plains of America are either to be drenched with Blood, or Inhabited by Slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous Man hesitate in his choice? Letter to Mr. George William Fairfax (31 May 1775) George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress”
“As to pay, Sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress that as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to accept this arduous employment at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit from it. Acceptance speech after being "elected" by the Continental Congress as commander of the yet”
“But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with. Washington's formal acceptance of command of the Army (16 June 1775), quoted in The Writings of George Washington : Life of Washington (1837) edited by Jared Sparks, p. 141”
“When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen. George Washington to New York Legislature”
“Every post is honorable in which a man can serve his country. Letter to Benedict Arnold”
“To expect … the same service from raw and undisciplined recruits, as from veteran soldiers, is to expect what never did and perhaps never will happen. Men, who are familiarized to danger, meet it without shrinking; whereas troops unused to service often apprehend danger where no danger is. Letter to the President of Congress”
“The virgin fertility of our soils and the vast amount of unskilled labor have been more of a curse than a blessing to agriculture. This exhaustive system for cultivation, the destruction of forest, the rapid and almost constant decomposition of organic matter, have made our agricultural problem one requiring more brains than of the North, East or West. The Need of Scientific Agriculture in the South”