Go forward with joyful confidence.
George EliotRead
Friendships begin with liking or gratitude- roots that can be pulled up.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Friendships are often founded on simple feelings like appreciation, which can be temporary.
This quote by George Eliot highlights how the foundations of friendships are often built on feelings of liking or gratitude, suggesting that these initial sentiments can be easily removed or changed. It reflects on the fragility of relationships that may seem strong, but began with superficial emotions that could be uprooted with time or circumstance.
Themes
FriendshipGratitudeLikingRelationshipsEmotions
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of relationships, I might reference this quote to emphasize how friendships can be fleeting.
More from George Eliot
All quotes βYou 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 β 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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If you wish to win a man over to your ideas, first make him your friend.
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I maintain that, if everyone knew what others said about him, there would not be four friends in the world.
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Gandalf, dwarves and Mr. Baggins! We are met together in the house of our friend and fellow conspirator, this most excellent and audacious hobbitβmay the hair on his toes never fall out!
J. R. R. TolkienRead
At the end of your life, it's friendships, emotions and thoughts that you take with you, rather than what's in your bank account. So, even though people don't have a lot here, they are a lot richer in many ways and we can learn from that.
Sebastian VettelRead
I'd rather trust nine people and have the 10th one stab me in the back. I'd take that fall in order to have those nine friendships or working relationships instead of having none. That's not living.
Margot RobbieRead