Eliot, George
George Eliot (1819-1880), real name Mary Ann Evans, is well known for her Victorian novel. She wrote under the masculine pen name, believing she would be taken more seriously. Her writing was politically driven. The characters are small town individuals and free thinkers, each with great psychological depth, something she is greatly admired for. Eliot writes about the truth in the world; how actions are impacted by the society one is surrounded by. Although all her stories are fictional, her writing style heightens their realism.
Eliot is also recognized for her interest and knowledge of the visual arts. Her surviving journals and other writings contain information on trips to museums and a collection of her thoughts and emotions connected to the art works she saw. She also wrote some poetry and translated works, but is best known for her novels.
Major Works
Biographies about George Eliot
- George Eliot: A Biography by Gordon S. Haight
- George Eliot by Jenny Uglow
- George Eliot: The Last Victorian by Kathryn Hughes
- The Life of George Eliot: A Critical Biography by Nancy Henry
More Information
Visit George Eliot’s Home and Museums
- Aubury Estate - Warwickshire, UK
- George Eliot Country Guided Tours - Warwickshire, UK
- Museum and Art Gallery - Warwickshire, UK
- George Eliot – Chelsea Walk of London – Chelsea, London
George Eliot Quotes
“And, of course men know best about everything, except what women know better.” (Middlemarch, 1874)
“I like not only to be loved, but to be told that I am loved. I am not sure that you are of the same kind. But the realm of silence is large enough beyond the grave. This is the world of light and speech, and I shall take leave to tell you that you are very dear.” (Letter to Georgiana Burne-Jones, wife of the artist Edward Burne-Jones, 1875)
“The best travel is that which one can take by one’s own fireside. In memory or imagination.”
“No story is the same to us after a lapse of time; or rather we who read it are no longer the same interpreters.”
“And when a woman’s will is as strong as the man’s who wants to govern her, half her strength must be concealment.”
“The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.” (“Janet’s Repentance“ from Scenes of Clerical Life, 1858)
“But it is precisely this absence of rigid requirement which constitutes the fatal seduction of novel-writing to incompetent women. Ladies are not wont to be very grossly deceived as to their power of playing on the piano; here certain positive difficulties of execution have to be conquered, and incompetence inevitably breaks down. Every art which has its absolute technique is, to a certain extent, guarded from the intrusions of mere left-handed imbecility. But in novel-writing there are no barriers for incapacity to stumble against, no external criteria to prevent a writer from mistaking foolish facility for mastery.”
“The finest language is mostly made up of simple unimposing words.”
“I have the conviction that excessive literary production is a social offense.” (In a letter, 1871)
“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if it were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”
“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.” (The Mill of the Floss, 1860)
“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.”
“There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and healed, to have despaired and recovered hope.” (Adam Bede, 1859)
“What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?” (Middlemarch, 1871)
“Imagination is a licensed trespasser: it has no fear of dogs, but may climb over walls and peep in at windows with impunity.” (Adam Bede, 1859)
“Human feeling is like the mighty rivers that bless the earth: it does not wait for beauty — it flows with resistless force and brings beauty with it.” (Adam Bede, 1859)
