Beginning Quote by George Eliot
““Men can do nothing without the make-believe of a beginning. Even science, the strict measurer, is obliged to start with a make-believe unit, and must fix on a point in the stars' unceasing journey when his sidereal clock shall pretend that time is at Nought. His less accurate grandmother Poetry has always been understood to start in the middle; but on reflection it appears that her proceeding is not very different from his; since Science, too, reckons backward as well as forward, divides his unit into billions, and with his clock-finger at Nought really sets off in medias res. No retrospect will take us to the true beginning; and whether our prologue be in heaven or on earth, it is but a fraction of that all-presupposing fact with which our story sets out.””
About This Quote
Source Essay: Literary Criticism, 1865
Both poetry and science begin with imagined starting points; true origins are unknowable, so narratives start in the middle.
In simple terms: Stories and theories start with assumptions, not absolute beginnings.
Key Takeaway
Embrace uncertainty in origins.
Themes
philosophy
literature
science
epistemology
Mood
thought‑provoking
analytical
Type
philosophical
literary
When to use this quote
- writing
- scientific research
- historical analysis
- philosophical debate
Key Concepts
narrative structure
theory of knowledge
creative imagination
Questions to Reflect On
- What does starting in medias res reveal about perception?
- How do assumptions shape knowledge?
A Different Perspective
Assuming a fixed beginning can limit creative thinking.
![“[W]e must learn to accommodate ourselves to the discovery that some of those cunningly-fashioned instruments called human souls have only a very limited range of music, and will not vibrate in the least under a touch that fills others with tremulous rapture or quivering agony.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9be/george-eliot-84_agony_w-e-must-learn-to-accommodate-ourselves_12409.jpg)
