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Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand.
George Eliot
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Expectations often do not match reality, highlighting the complexity of life experiences.

This quote by George Eliot suggests that our initial perceptions and expectations of situations are often overly optimistic or simplistic. Upon experiencing them, they may reveal deeper complexities or disappointments that challenge our preconceived notions, reminding us that reality is multifaceted and often different from what we anticipated.

Themes

ExpectationsRealityPerceptionLifeExperience

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the challenges of adulthood, one might say, 'Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand.'

More from George Eliot

Go forward with joyful confidence.
George EliotRead
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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