There is nothing that will kill a man so soon as having nobody to find fault with but himself.
George EliotPlain women he regarded as he did the other severe facts of life, to be faced with philosophy and investigated by science.
George EliotHe was of an impressible nature, and lived a great deal in other people's opinions and feelings concerning himself.
George EliotGiven, a man with moderate intellect, a moral standard not higher than the average, some rhetorical affluence and a great glibness of speech, what is the career in which, without the aid of birth or money, he may most easily attain power and reputation in English society? Where is that Goshen of mediocrity in which a smattering of science and learning will pass for profound instruction, where platitudes will be accepted as wisdom, bigoted narrowness as holy zeal, unctuous egoism as God-given piety?
George Eliot