Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.

A perverted moral judgment belongs to the dogmatic system.

Is it not rather what we expect in men, that they should have numerous strands of experience lying side by side and never compare them with each other?

To be candid, in Middlemarch phraseology, meant, to use an early opportunity of letting your friends know that you did not take a cheerful view of their capacity, their conduct, or their position; and a robust candor never waited to be asked for its opinion.

Imagination is a licensed trespasser: it has no fear of dogs, but may climb over walls and peep in at windows with impunity.

The best happiness will be to escape the worst misery.

But what we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.