--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: All people of broad, strong sense have an…" description: "\"“All people of broad, strong sense have an instinctive repugnance to the men of maxims; because such people early discern that the mysterious complexit..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1be/george-eliot-84_inspiration_all-people-of-broad-strong-sense-have-an_2403159.png" --- # All people of broad, strong sense have an instinctive… ![“All people of broad, strong sense have an instinctive repugnance to the men of maxims; because such people early discern that the mysterious complexity of our life is not to be embraced by maxims, and that to lace ourselves up in formulas of that sort is to repress all the divine promptings and…” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1be/george-eliot-84_inspiration_all-people-of-broad-strong-sense-have-an_2403159.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1be/george-eliot-84_inspiration_all-people-of-broad-strong-sense-have-an_2403159.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1be/george-eliot-84_inspiration_all-people-of-broad-strong-sense-have-an_2403159.png) > ““All people of broad, strong sense have an instinctive repugnance to the men of maxims; because such people early discern that the mysterious complexity of our life is not to be embraced by maxims, and that to lace ourselves up in formulas of that sort is to repress all the divine promptings and inspirations that spring from growing insight and sympathy. And the man of maxims is the popular representative of the minds that are guided in their moral judgment solely by general rules, thinking that these will lead them to justice by a ready-made patent method, without the trouble of exerting patience, discrimination, impartiality, without any care to assure themselves whether they have the insight that comes from a hardly-earned estimate of temptation, or from a life vivid and intense enough to have created a wide fellow-feeling with all that is human.”” [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People who rely solely on strict rules miss deeper moral insight that comes from lived experience and empathy. **In simple terms:** Rules alone miss true moral insight. Key Takeaway Balance principles with empathy. Themes ethics humanism intuition Mood reflective philosophical Type literary analytical When to use this quote - lawmaking - education - personal growth Key Concepts moral philosophy psychology Questions to Reflect On - When have you trusted a rule over intuition? - How can empathy guide decisions? A Different Perspective Overreliance on rules can stifle compassion. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Embraced Maxims](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/embraced-maxims-1769533/) [Inspiration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspiration/) [Justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/justice/) [Man Maxims](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-maxims-5737284/) [Maxims](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/maxims/) [Maxims People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/maxims-people-1769535/) [Men Maxims](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men-maxims-1769536/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/) ## Related quotes > [“All people of broad, strong sense have an instinctive repugnance to the men of maxims; because such people early discern that the mysterious complexity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/all-people-of-broad-strong-sense-have-an-instinctive-repugnance-to/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [A man of maxims only is like a Cyclops with one eye, and that in the back of his head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/a-man-of-maxims-only-is-like-a-cyclops-with-one-eye-and-that-in-the/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [In spite of his practical ability, some of his experience had petrified into maxims and quotations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/in-spite-of-his-practical-ability-some-of-his-experience-had/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [There are answers which, in turning away wrath, only send it to the other end of the room, and to have a discussion coolly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-answers-which-in-turning-away-wrath-only-send-it-to-the/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“An expensive coffin does not decrease the deceased’s chances of going to hell.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/an-expensive-coffin-does-not-decrease-the-deceased-s-chances-of-going/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [Men cannot labor on always. 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The Christian's maxims are, Do right because you are bound to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-landey-patton/christian-obligation-cannot-be-made-to-accord-with-a-law-of/) [Francis Landey Patton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-landey-patton/) > [I see a lot of true artists... then you see them on the cover of Maxim. That's the lowest of low to me. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cheyenne-kimball/i-see-a-lot-of-true-artists-then-you-see-them-on-the-cover-of-maxim/) [Cheyenne Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cheyenne-kimball/) ## More by George Eliot > [There are various orders of beauty, causing men to make fools of themselves in various styles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-various-orders-of-beauty-causing-men-to-make-fools-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/but-the-effect-of-her-being-on-those-around-her-was-incalculably/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Scepticismcan never be thoroughly applied, else life would come to a standstill.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/scepticismcan-never-be-thoroughly-applied-else-life-would-come-to-a/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Under every guilty secret there is hidden a brood of guilty wishes, whose unwholesome infecting life is cherished by the darkness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/under-every-guilty-secret-there-is-hidden-a-brood-of-guilty-wishes/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [The most powerful movement of feeling with a liturgy is the prayer which seeks for nothing special, but is a yearning to escape from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/the-most-powerful-movement-of-feeling-with-a-liturgy-is-the-prayer/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [ “\[W\]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… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/w-e-must-learn-to-accommodate-ourselves-to-the-discovery-that-some-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“Mr. Casaubon had never had a strong bodily frame, and his soul was sensitive without being enthusiastic: it was too languid to thrill out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/mr-casaubon-had-never-had-a-strong-bodily-frame-and-his-soul-was/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“... she took her husband's jokes and joviality as patiently as everything else, considering that "men would be so", and viewing the stronger sex…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/she-took-her-husband-s-jokes-and-joviality-as-patiently-as-everything/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [What is opportunity to the man who can't use it? An unfecundated egg, which the waves of time wash away into nonentity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/what-is-opportunity-to-the-man-who-can-t-use-it-an-unfecundated-egg/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [And, of course men know best about everything, except what women know better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/and-of-course-men-know-best-about-everything-except-what-women-know/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“But let the wise be warned against too great readiness at explanation: it multiplies the sources of mistake, lengthening the sum for reckoners sure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/but-let-the-wise-be-warned-against-too-great-readiness-at-explanation/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“But any one watching keenly the stealthy convergence of human lots, sees a slow preparation of effects from one life on another, which tells…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/but-any-one-watching-keenly-the-stealthy-convergence-of-human-lots/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Perspective, as its inventor remarked, is a beautiful thing. What horrors of damp huts, where human beings languish, may not become picturesque through aerial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/perspective-as-its-inventor-remarked-is-a-beautiful-thing-what/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“Sane people did what their neighbours did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/sane-people-did-what-their-neighbours-did-so-that-if-any-lunatics/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [even those who call themselves 'intimate' know very little about each other - hardly ever know just how a sorrow is felt, and hurt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/even-those-who-call-themselves-intimate-know-very-little-about-each/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) [Explore all 1,492 George Eliot quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) ## More Inspiration quotes > [We talk to God--that is prayer; God talks to us--that is inspiration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-emilie-cady/we-talk-to-god-that-is-prayer-god-talks-to-us-that-is-inspiration/) [H. 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Hinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lashauna-d-hinton/) [Browse all 17,129 Inspiration quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspiration/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“All people of broad, strong sense have an instinctive repugnance to the men of maxims; because such people early discern that the mysterious complexity of our life is not to be embraced by maxims, and that to lace ourselves up in formulas of that sort is to repress all the divine promptings and inspirations that spring from growing insight and sympathy. And the man of maxims is the popular representative of the minds that are guided in their moral judgment solely by general rules, thinking that these will lead them to justice by a ready-made patent method, without the trouble of exerting patience, discrimination, impartiality, without any care to assure themselves whether they have the insight that comes from a hardly-earned estimate of temptation, or from a life vivid and intense enough to have created a wide fellow-feeling with all that is human.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Eliot" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/all-people-of-broad-strong-sense-have-an-instinctive-repugnance-to-2/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Inspiration" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/all-people-of-broad-strong-sense-have-an-instinctive-repugnance-to-2/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1be/george-eliot-84_inspiration_all-people-of-broad-strong-sense-have-an_2403159.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1be/george-eliot-84_inspiration_all-people-of-broad-strong-sense-have-an_2403159.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1be/george-eliot-84_inspiration_all-people-of-broad-strong-sense-have-an_2403159.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“All people of broad, strong sense have an instinctive repugnance to the men of maxims; because such people…” — George Eliot", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "George Eliot", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“All people of broad, strong sense...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/all-people-of-broad-strong-sense-have-an-instinctive-repugnance-to-2/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/all-people-of-broad-strong-sense-have-an-instinctive-repugnance-to-2/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```