My Life in Quotes- #111-#115
111. “It takes very little water to make a perfect pool for a tiny fish, where it will find its world and parades all in one, and never have a presentiment of the dry bank. The fretted summer shade, and stillness, and the gentle breathing of some loved life near- it would be paradise to us all, if eager thought, the strong angel with the implacable brow, had not long since closed the gates.”- George Eliot, Romola, p. 116
George Eliot reminds us that our needs are infinitesimal compared to our wants. A safe place to dwell and our loved ones close at hand- what more do we need. I appreciate, too, her Biblical reference to the Garden of Eden. Paradise lost and humanity barred from returning.
112. “But our deeds are like children that are born to us; they live and act apart from our own will. Nay, children may be strangled, but deeds never: they have an indestructible life both in and out of our consciousness; and that dreadful vitality of deeds was pressing hard on Tito for the first time.”- ibid., George Eliot, Romola, p. 170
All the regret in the world can’t remove the impact of our actions. Once we have done the deed, we live with the consequences, anticipated or otherwise.
113. “Tito was experiencing that inexorable law of human souls, that we prepare ourselves for sudden deeds by the reiterated choice of good or evil that gradually determines character.”- ibid., George Eliot, Romola, p. 231
Eliot makes an important point here. Just as we exercise our physical muscles to prepare for the need to move something heavy, so we exercise our moral muscles to gain strength for moments of ethical challenge. A good reminder that our every day decisions matter.
114. “Only in this, that she understood now how men could be prompted to rush away forever from earthly delights, how they could be prompted to dwell on images of sorrow rather than of beauty and joy.”- ibid., George Eliot, Romola, p. 331
I wish I remembered the context of this quote. It is certainly true that we can choose to dwell in sorrow, to get comfortable in our depression and misery.
“To rush away forever” from all that is good and joyous in the world? One can only wonder what happened to the character she describes to cause such an extreme choice.
115. “They were too hopelessly alienated in their inner life ever to have that contest which is an effort towards agreement.”- ibid., George Eliot, Romola, p. 412
Sometimes it’s just not worth fighting.
About This Series- About This Series- I love words. I love when a word exactly captures the moment, the feeling. How it precisely describes something that you experienced but didn’t know exactly how to express. It’s like a warm bath or a deeply satisfying meal.
And beyond that- a collection of words. A deeply insightful phrase, thought-provoking and uplifting. A quote to remember.
I started collecting quotes when I was 16 years old. (1972) I’m 69 now, as I write these words, (2024), and there are 473 quotes in my collection. At this precise moment.
That’s not really that many over the course of 53 years. I guess I am fairly discriminating. Sometimes years can go by and the collection lays dormant. In other years there is a great harvest of quotes.
These are not necessarily famous quotes, things you’ll often hear referenced. For the most part, they simply represent words that I read that made me stop for a moment to meditate and bask in their impact. And quotes I enjoy reading and re-reading and quoting myself!
These quotes represent the evolution of my thinking over the course of 53 years. I look forward to pondering what it is that made me find each one meaningful enough to save.