Go forward with joyful confidence.
George EliotRead
The sense of an entailed disadvantage - the deformed foot doubtfully hidden by the shoe, makes a restlessly active spiritual yeast, and easily turns a self-centered, unloving nature into an Ishmaelite.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on how hidden disadvantages can spur inner restlessness and transformation in one's character.
In this quote, George Eliot suggests that when people experience disadvantages, even those that are not visibly apparent, they can lead to a deep internal struggle or restlessness. This sense of discomfort has the potential to shift one's nature from being self-centered and unloving to one that embodies sympathy and connection with others, illustrated through the reference to an 'Ishmaelite'—a figure traditionally associated with hardship and resilience.
Themes
DisadvantageTransformationSelf-CenterednessSympathyResilience
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about overcoming adversity at a community event.
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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