Perhaps the most delightful friendships are those in which there is much agreement, much disputation, and yet more personal liking.

The floods of nonsense printed in the form of critical opinions seem to me a chief curse of the times, a chief obstacle to true culture.

Selfish— a judgment readily passed by those who have never tested their own power of sacrifice.

Consequences are unpitying. Our deeds carry their terrible consequences, quite apart from any fluctuations that went before—consequences that are hardly ever confined to ourselves. And it is best to fix our minds on that certainty, instead of considering what may be the elements of excuse for us.

[It is easier] to quell emotion than to incur the consequences of venting it.

... in no part of the world is genteel visiting founded on esteem, in the absence of suitable furniture and complete dinner-service.

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.