“I wish to use my last hours of ease and strength in telling the strange story of my experience. I have never fully unbosomed myself to any human being; I have never been encouraged to trust much in the sympathy of my fellow-men.”

— George Eliot , book The Lifted Veil

The Lifted Veil (1859); Eliot here quotes the Latin epitaph of Jonathan Swift, translated as "Where savage indignation can lacerate his heart no more" · The Lifted Veil online at Wikisource
Context: I wish to use my last hours of ease and strength in telling the strange story of my experience. I have never fully unbosomed myself to any human being; I have never been encouraged to trust much in the sympathy of my fellow-men. But we have all a chance of meeting with some pity, some tenderness, some charity, when we are dead: it is the living only who cannot be forgiven — the living only from whom men's indulgence and reverence are held off, like the rain by the hard east wind. While the heart beats, bruise it — it is your only opportunity; while the eye can still turn towards you with moist, timid entreaty, freeze it with an icy unanswering gaze; while the ear, that delicate messenger to the inmost sanctuary of the soul, can still take in the tones of kindness, put it off with hard civility, or sneering compliment, or envious affectation of indifference; while the creative brain can still throb with the sense of injustice, with the yearning for brotherly recognition — make haste — oppress it with your ill-considered judgements, your trivial comparisons, your careless misrepresentations. The heart will by and by be still — "ubi saeva indignatio ulterius cor lacerare nequit" the eye will cease to entreat; the ear will be deaf; the brain will have ceased from all wants as well as from all work. Then your charitable speeches may find vent; then you may remember and pity the toil and the struggle and the failure; then you may give due honour to the work achieved; then you may find extenuation for errors, and may consent to bury them.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I wish to use my last hours of ease and strength in telling the strange story of my experience. I have never fully unbo…" by George Eliot?

George Eliot 300

English novelist, journalist and translator 1819–1880

Related quotes

“Men may be divided into two types: men of words and men of action. The first speaks; the latter act. I am of the second group. I lack the means to express myself adequately. I would not be able to explain to anyone my artistic concepts. I have not yet concretised them. I never had time to reflect on them. My hours have been spent in my work.”

Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) Catalan architect

La Razón, 1913 in: Gaudi by Gijs Van Hensbergen, introduction p.xxxii http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=unF5kAX0xCwC&dq=Gaudi+on+Gaudi&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=c0iOxQzVGj&sig=88zRY-TOlnChRUBQTHzDnrtLDEs&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPR32,M1

“Dedication: To my daughter Leonora without whose never-failing sympathy and encouragement this book would have been finished in half the time.”

P.G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) English author

The Heart of a Goof (1926)

“It's strange. In the last five minutes you have used my Christian name over and over again and never before. People I like learn my name too late.”

Peter Greenaway (1942) British film director

Georgina
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover

“I suppose the story of my life is a search for love, but more than that, I have been looking for a way to repair myself from the damages I suffered early on and to define my obligation, if I had any, to myself and my species.”

Marlon Brando (1924–2004) American screen and stage actor

New York Times (July 2, 2004)

“I have never knew what it was to sacrifice my own judgment to gratify any party and I have no doubt of the time being close at hand when I will be rewarded for letting my tongue speak what my heart thinks. I have suffered myself to be politically sacrificed to save my country from ruin and disgrace and if I am never again elected I will have the gratification to know that I have done my duty.”

Davy Crockett (1786–1836) American politician

Comments on his final election defeat (11 August 1835) Ch. 2; in Dr. Swan's Prescriptions for Job-Itis (2003) by Dennis Swanberg and Criswell Freeman, p. 45, part of this seems to have become paraphrased as "Let your tongue speak what your heart thinks." No earlier publication of this version has been located.
Col. Crockett's Exploits and Adventures in Texas (1836)

“Never have I been so much alone — I tried to think of my knowledge, but it was a squirrel's heap of winter nuts. There was no strength in my knowledge any more and I felt small and naked as a new-hatched bird — alone upon the great river, the servant of the gods.”

Stephen Vincent Benét book By the Waters of Babylon

Source: By the Waters of Babylon (1937)

“I am just a very ordinary priest without much achievement. I'm not even aware what strengths I have. But my fellow priests, nuns and lay Catholics give me their support and trust, so I will try my very best.”

Anthony Dang Mingyan (1967) Chinese bishop

New Auxiliary Bishop Of Xi´an Strains To Help ´High-Caliber´ Bishop (26 July 2005) UCA News https://www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=/2005/07/27/new-auxiliary-bishop-of-xian-strains-to-help-highcaliber-bishop&post_id=26095

“I never had any hesitation or regrets in this sense. My life has been enriched by excellent human relations, work and interests. I have never felt lonely.”

Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909–2012) Italian neurologist

Of the fact that she never married; quoted in Associated Press obituary.

“Writing is tiring and difficult, but I can sit at my desk for hours and hours, writing through the night to dawn. I never had any prior writing experience, but I learned that it’s not about using heavy vocabulary, and more about how I can express my sincerity.”

Brigitte Lin (1954) Taiwanese actress

As quoted in "Brigitte Lin, a timeless national treasure" in Taipei Times (15 May 2018) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2018/05/15/2003693091

“Much as I have no wish to hurt anyone's feelings, my first obligation has not been to be nice but to be true to my perhaps peculiar memories, experiences and feelings.”

Edward Said (1935–2003) Professor of English and literature

Source: Out of Place

“I wish to use my last hours of ease and strength in telling the strange story of my experience. I have never fully unbosomed myself to any human being; I have never been encouraged to trust much in the sympathy of my fellow-men.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

George Eliot 300

Related quotes

Related topics