"A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections."

Life

Create & Download Quote Image

Select Template

Insight & Reflection

This reflection on life by George Eliot resonates across generations. It highlights a fundamental truth about human nature: our continuous search for meaning in life is what ultimately defines our character and our path forward.

About George Eliot

Mary Ann Evans, known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrote seven novels: Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Romola (1862–1863), Felix Holt, the Radical (1866), Middlemarch (1871–1872) and Daniel Deronda (1876). Her novels are known for their realism, psychological insight, sense of place, and detailed depiction of the countryside. Middlemarch was described by the novelist Virginia Woolf as "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people" and by Martin Amis and Julian Barnes as the greatest novel in the English language.

More quotes by George Eliot  ’
Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the Quotes Archive Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by George Eliot

"Let thoughts come and go like clouds across an undisturbed autumn sky. In this truth lies the bedrock of all virtue."

Read more  ’

"It is a unyielding truth that in the tapestry of human existence, every trial adds depth to the design — an essential principle for the reflective life."

Read more  ’

"Life is an unwritten ledger; each passing sunrise offers a clean and waiting page. Let this simple maxim guide your daily deeds."

Read more  ’

More about Life

"The spark of ambition becomes a blaze of accomplishment only through disciplined persistence. This remains the cornerstone of personal mastery — an essential principle for the reflective life."

Read more  ’

"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained."

Read more  ’
View all Life quotes  ’