“The lapse of time during which a given event has not happened, is, in this logic of habit, constantly alleged as a reason why the event should never happen, even when the lapse of time is precisely the added condition which makes the event imminent. A man will tell you that he has worked in a mine for forty years unhurt by an accident as a reason why he should apprehend no danger, though the roof is beginning to sink...”

—  George Eliot

Source: Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe (1861), Chapter 5 (at page 41)

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English novelist, journalist and translator 1819–1880

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