Belief Quote by George Eliot
“Signs are small measurable things, but interpretations are illimitable, and in girls of sweet, ardent nature, every sign is apt to conjure up wonder, hope, belief, vast as a sky, and colored by a thimbleful of matter in the shape of knowledge…wrong reasoning sometimes lands poor mortals in right conclusions: starting a long way off the true point, and proceeding by loops and zigzags, we now and then arrive just where we ought to be. Just because Miss Brooke was hasty in her trust, it is not therefore clear that Mr. Casaubon was unworthy of it.”
About This Quote
Source Novel: Middlemarch, 1871
Signs are limited, but interpretations are boundless, leading to both insight and error; judgments can be flawed yet sometimes correct.
In simple terms: Small signs can lead to big, sometimes wrong, insights.
Key Takeaway
Beware of over‑interpreting limited data.
Themes
interpretation
knowledge
error
Mood
reflective
analytical
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- research analysis
- personal decisions
- historical study
Key Concepts
cognitive bias
epistemology
critical thinking
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you verify interpretations?
- When is skepticism more valuable than belief?
A Different Perspective
Interpretations can be influenced by personal bias.
![“[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)
