Go forward with joyful confidence.
George EliotRead
If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the overwhelming nature of human existence and the subtle details often overlooked in life.
George Eliot suggests that if we could truly perceive the ordinary aspects of human life with sharp clarity, the sheer volume of experience would be overwhelming, akin to the quiet yet constant sounds of nature. Such acute awareness could lead to a profound cognitive overload, highlighting the delicate balance between noise and silence in our lives.
Themes
Human ExperienceOrdinary LifeAwarenessPerceptionSilenceNature
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about mindfulness and awareness, this quote can emphasize the importance of noticing the mundane.
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
Similar quotes
At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning.
William SafireRead
I have often thought that when I do die it will be of sheer boredom.
Christopher HitchensRead
And there were other rocks that were like animals, creeping, horrible animals, putting out their tongues, and others were like words I could not say, and others like dead people lying on the grass. I went on among them, though they frightened me, and my heart was full of wicked song they put into it; and I wanted to make faces and twist myself about the way they did, and I went on and on a long way till at last I liked the rocks and they didn’t frighten me any more
Arthur MachenRead
Two forms of government are favorable to the prevalence of falsehood and deceit. Under a Despotism, men are false, treacherous, and deceitful through fear, like slaves dreading the lash. Under a Democracy they are so as a means of attaining popularity and office, and because of the greed for wealth.
Albert PikeRead
When a man sells eleven ounces for twelve, he makes a compact with the devil, and sells himself for the value of an ounce.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
Moreover, I consider that Carthage should be destroyed.
Cato The ElderRead