Go forward with joyful confidence.
George EliotRead
We must not inquire too curiously into motives. they are apt to become feeble in the utterance: the aroma is mixed with the grosser air. We must keep the germinating grain away from the light.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that overly scrutinizing people's motives can dilute their sincerity and purity.
George Eliot's quote highlights the importance of allowing intentions and ideas to develop without excessive scrutiny. When we examine motives too closely, we risk tainting the originality and authenticity of those motives. Just as new grain needs darkness to grow strong, so too do our thoughts and intentions require space and time to flourish without being hindered by external judgments.
Themes
MotivesIntentionGrowthAuthenticityPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on trust in relationships, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of accepting feelings without overanalyzing them.
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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