Go forward with joyful confidence.
George EliotRead
He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote humorously illustrates the idea of someone who is overly self-important, believing their actions are the center of the universe.
George Eliot's quote uses the metaphor of a cock crowing at dawn to convey how some individuals possess an inflated sense of their own significance. Such people believe that the world revolves around them, failing to recognize their actions might not be as impactful as they perceive. It highlights the folly of self-importance in human behavior.
Themes
Self-ImportanceArroganceHumorEgoVanity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech highlighting humility, one might quote Eliot to remind the audience not to become arrogant.
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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