Go forward with joyful confidence.
George EliotRead
Children demand that their heroes should be freckle less, and easily believe them so: perhaps a first discovery to the contrary is less revolutionary shock to a passionate child than the threatened downfall of habitual beliefs which makes the world seem to totter for us in maturer life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Children idealize their heroes, while adults face more complex disillusionments as their beliefs are challenged.
This quote by George Eliot reflects on the innocent and simplistic view that children have of their heroes, who they expect to be flawless. As adults, we encounter more complicated disappointments that can shake our foundational beliefs about the world, showing a contrast between the naivety of childhood and the challenging realities of adult life.
Themes
ChildrenHeroesBeliefsDisillusionmentMaturity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about childhood innocence in a parenting seminar.
More from George Eliot
All quotes →You must love your work, and not be always looking over the edge of it, wanting your play to begin. And the other is, you must not be ashamed of your work, and think it would be more honorable to you to be doing something else. You must have a pride in your own work and in learning to do it well.
George EliotRead
She thought it was part of the hardship of her life that there was laid upon her the burthen of larger wants than others seemed to feel – that she had to endure this wide hopeless yearning for that something, whatever it was, that was greatest and best on this earth.
George EliotRead
Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music.
George EliotRead
I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music.
George EliotRead
Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them: they can be injured by us, they can be wounded; they know all our penitence, all our aching sense that their place is empty, all the kisses we bestow on the smallest relic of their presence.
George EliotRead
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