As you can see I'm currently reading Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (among other things). I admire this book; truly, I'm obsessed with it. George Eliot's writing style is amazing (this is the first Eliot book I've ever read) and the story is fascinating – I never knew Jews were so frowned upon in Victorian England (too). Also, I might or might not be a little bit in love with Daniel.
I thought I'd share some of my favourite quotes with you. I'm only
halfway through the book, so there might be another post coming later with another bunch of quotes. Enjoy!
"Development and catastrophe can often be measured by nothing clumsier than the moment-hand."
"Attempts at description are stupid: who can all at once describe a human being? Even when he is presented to us we only begin that knowledge of his appearance which must be completed by innumerable impressions under differing circumstances. We recognize the alphabet; we are not sure of the language."
"One couldn't carry on life comfortably without a little blindness to the fact that everything had been said better than we can put it ourselves."
"We know that he [Deronda] suffered keenly from the belief that there was a tinge of dishonor in his lot; but there are some cases, and his was one of them, in which the sense of injury breeds
– not the will to inflict injuries and climb over them as a ladder, but a hatred of all injury."
"Outsiders might have been more apt to think that Klesmer's position was dangerous for himself if Miss Arrowpoint had been an acknowledged beauty; not taking into account that the most powerful of all beauty is that which reveals itself after sympathy and not before it."
"There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms."
"I think I dislike what I don't like more than I like what I like."
