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Having once embarked on your marital voyage, it is impossible not to be aware that you make no way and the sea is not within sight; that in fact, you are exploring an enclosed basin.
George Eliot
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Marriage can feel stagnant and isolating at times, as if you are adrift in a closed off world.

In this quote, George Eliot reflects on the nature of marriage as a journey that can often feel aimless and enclosed. Once individuals commit to this voyage of partnership, they may find themselves in a situation where their progress is unclear and the broader horizons of life are not visible, highlighting the challenges of navigating intimacy and connection within a confined relationship dynamic.

Themes

MarriageRelationshipsVoyageExplorationCommitment

In practice

Example use cases

During a wedding speech, a person might share this quote to express the challenges and adventures of marital life.

More from George Eliot

Go forward with joyful confidence.
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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.
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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.
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Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music.
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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.
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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.
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Until we meet again, may God bless you as he has blessed me.
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Quote by George Eliot | QuoteProject