Go forward with joyful confidence.
George EliotRead
The yoke a man creates for himself by wrong-doing will breed hate in the kindliest nature.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Wrong actions lead to negative consequences, even in those who are typically good-hearted.
This quote by George Eliot suggests that when a person engages in wrongdoing, it not only harms others but can also generate feelings of animosity and resentment, even from those who are generally compassionate. The idea is that negative actions create a burden or 'yoke' that ultimately affects the perpetrator and the relationships they have with others, highlighting the importance of integrity and morality.
Themes
WrongdoingConsequencesHateNatureIntegrity
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a seminar on ethics might use this quote to illustrate the importance of personal responsibility.
More from George Eliot
All quotes βYou must love your work, and not be always looking over the edge of it, wanting your play to begin. And the other is, you must not be ashamed of your work, and think it would be more honorable to you to be doing something else. You must have a pride in your own work and in learning to do it well.
George EliotRead
She thought it was part of the hardship of her life that there was laid upon her the burthen of larger wants than others seemed to feel β that she had to endure this wide hopeless yearning for that something, whatever it was, that was greatest and best on this earth.
George EliotRead
Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music.
George EliotRead
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.
George EliotRead
Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them: they can be injured by us, they can be wounded; they know all our penitence, all our aching sense that their place is empty, all the kisses we bestow on the smallest relic of their presence.
George EliotRead
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