Go forward with joyful confidence.
George EliotRead
There is one order of beauty which seems made to turn heads. It is a beauty like that of kittens, or very small downy ducks making gentle rippling noises with their soft bills, or babies just beginning to toddle.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the simple, innocent beauty found in small creatures and babies that captivates attention.
In this quote, George Eliot reflects on a particular kind of beauty that is characterized by innocence and playfulness. She suggests that this beauty, exemplified by kittens, ducklings, and toddlers, has a unique ability to capture our attention and evoke feelings of joy and tenderness. It implies that true beauty often resides in the small, simple moments of life that remind us of purity and affection.
Themes
BeautyInnocencePlayfulnessJoyTenderness
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about appreciating the small joys in life.
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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