"But the mother's yearning, that completest type of the life in another life which is the essence of real human love, feels the presence of the cherished child even in the debased, degraded man."

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More quotes from: George Eliot

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• "Acting is nothing more or less than playing. The idea is to humanize life. "
• "Adventure is not outside man; it is within. "
• "All meanings, we know, depend on the key of interpretation. "
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• "Anger and jealousy can no more bear to lose sight of their objects than love. "
• "Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms. "
• "Any coward can fight a battle when he's sure of winning, but give me the ..."
• "Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; unbelief, in denying them. "
• "Best friend, my well-spring in the wilderness! "
• "Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another. "
• "Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of ..."
• "Blows are sarcasm's turned stupid. "
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• "But human experience is usually paradoxical, that means incongruous with the phrases of current talk ..."
• "But most of us are apt to settle within ourselves that the man who blocks ..."
• "But that intimacy of mutual embarrassment, in which each feels that the other is feeling ..."
• "Conscientious people are apt to see their duty in that which is the most painful ..."
• "Consequences are unpitying. "
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• "Excessive literary production is a social offense. "
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• "Gossip is a sort of smoke that comes from the dirty tobacco-pipes of those who ..."
• "Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought ..."
• "Harold, like the rest of us, had many impressions which saved him the trouble of ..."
• "He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow. "
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• "I at least have so much to do in unraveling certain human lots, and seeing ..."
• "I desire no future that will break the ties with the past. "
• "I have the conviction that excessive literary production is a social offence. "
• "I hold it a blasphemy to say that a man ought not to fight against ..."
• "I like not only to be loved, but to be told I am loved. "
• "I like trying to get pregnant. I'm not so sure about childbirth. "
• "I should like to know what is the proper function of women, if it is ..."
• "I tell you there isn't a thing under the sun that needs to be done ..."
• "I'm not denyin' the women are foolish. God Almighty made 'em to match the men. "
• "I'm proof against that word failure. I've seen behind it. The only failure a man ..."
• "If we use common words on a great occasion, they are the more striking, because ..."

• "Ignorant kindness may have the effect of cruelty; but to be angry with it as ..."
• "In all private quarrels the duller nature is triumphant by reason of dullness. "
• "In spite of his practical ability, some of his experience had petrified into maxims and ..."
• "In the schoolroom her quick mind had taken readily that strong starch of unexplained rules ..."
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• "Is it not rather what we expect in men, that they should have numerous strands ..."
• "It is a common enough case, that of a man being suddenly captivated by a ..."
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• "It is never too late to be what you might have been. "
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• "Iteration, like friction, is likely to generate heat instead of progress. "
• "Jealousy is never satisfied with anything short of an omniscience that would detect the subtlest ..."
• "Kisses honeyed by oblivion. "
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• "Might, could, would - they are contemptible auxiliaries. "
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