I.B. George Quotes

But how little we know what would make paradise for our neighbours! We judge from our own desires, and our neighbours themselves are not always open enough even to throw out a hint of theirs.

Receptiveness is a rare and massive power, like fortitude.

If you are to rule men, you must rule them through their own ideas.

What courage and patience are wanted for every life that aims to produce anything!

... when one's outward lot is perfect, the sense of inward imperfection is the more pressing.

He had the superficial kindness of a good-humored, self-satisfied nature, that fears no rivalry, and has encountered no contrarieties.

In the first moments when we come away from the presence of death, every other relation to the living is merged, to our feeling, in the great relation of a common nature and a common destiny.

Loquacity with tongue or pen is its own reward -- or, punishment.

... one's own faults are always a heavy chain to drag through life and one can't help groaning under the weight now and then.

The worst service, I fancy, that anyone can do for truth, is to set silly people writing on its behalf.

... the business of life shuts us up within the environs of London and within sight of human advancement, which I should be so very glad to believe in without seeing.

People who write finely must not expect to be left in repose; they will be molested with thanks, at least.

... learning to love any one is like an increase of property, -- it increases care, and brings many new fears lest precious things should come to harm.

I am feeling easy now, and you will well understand that after undergoing pain this ease is opening paradise. Invalids must be excused for being eloquent about themselves.

... happy husbands and wives can hear each other say the same thing over and over again without being tired.

But, bless us, things may be lovable that are not altogether handsome, I hope?

To most mortals there is a stupidity which is unendurable and a stupidity which is altogether acceptable - else, indeed, what would become of social bonds?

There is a sort of human paste that when it comes near the fire of enthusiasm is only baked into harder shape.

When I married Humphrey I made up my mind to like sermons, and I set out by liking the end very much. That soon spread to the middle and the beginning, because I couldn't have the end without them.

Our sense of duty must often wait for some work which shall take the place of dilettanteism [sic] and make us feel that the quality of our action is not a matter of indifference.

What people do who go into politics I can't think; it drives me almost mad to see mismanagement over only a few hundred acres.

I don't feel sure about doing good in any way now; everything seems like going on a mission to a people whose language I don't know.

... we all know the wag's definition of a philanthropist: a man whose charity increases directly as the square of the distance.

... indefinite visions of ambition are weak against the ease of doing what is habitual or beguilingly agreeable.

... the majority of us scarcely see more distinctly the faultiness of our own conduct than the faultiness of our own arguments, orthe dulness [sic] of our own jokes.

... we are most of us brought up in the notion that the highest motive for not doing a wrong is something irrespective of the beings who would suffer the wrong.

Scepticismcan never be thoroughly applied, else life would come to a standstill.

Solomon's Proverbs, I think, have omitted to say, that as the sore palate findeth grit, so an uneasy consciousness heareth innuendos.

... in no part of the world is genteel visiting founded on esteem, in the absence of suitable furniture and complete dinner-service.

Fine art, poetry, that kind of thing, elevates a nation.

... there is a lightness about the feminine mind--a touch and go--music, the fine arts, that kind of thing--they should study those up to a certain point, women should; but in a light way, you know.

I think any hardship is better than pretending to do what one is paid for, and never really doing it.

But with regard to critical occasions, it often happens that all moments seem comfortably remote until the last.

When one is grateful for something too good for common thanks, writing is less unsatisfactory than speech-one does not, at least, hear how inadequate the words are.

We are apt to think it the finest era of the world when America was beginning to be discovered, when a bold sailor, even if he were wrecked, might alight on a new kingdom.

To the receptive soul the river of life pauseth not, nor is diminished.

It is better - it shall be better with me because I have known you.

I am not magnanimous enough to like people who speak to me without seeming to see me

Animals are such agreeable friends.

Men can do nothing without the make-believe of a beginning.

Falsehood is so easy, truth so difficult. Even with no motive to be false, it is very hard to say the exact truth.

The greatest benefit we owe to the artist, whether painter, poet, or novelist, is the extension of our sympathies.

If we need a true conception of the popular character to guide our sympathies rightly, we need it equally to check our theories, and direct us in their application.

Art is the nearest thing to life; it is a mode of amplifying experience and extending our contact with our fellow men beyond the bounds of our personal lot.

It is well known to all experienced minds that our firmest convictions are often dependent on subtle impressions for which words are quite too coarse a medium.

Subtle impressions for which words are quite too coarse a medium.

I not only want to be loved, I want to be told that I'm loved.

Of all forms of human error, prophesy is the most avoidable.

So to live is heaven; to make undying music in the world.

Better spend an extra hundred or two on your son's education, than leave it him in your will.