--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Doubtless a great anguish may do the work…" description: "\"Doubtless a great anguish may do the work of years, and we may come out from that baptism of fire with a soul full of new awe and new pity.\" — George E..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17e/george-eliot-84_anguish_doubtless-a-great-anguish-may-do-the-wor_2076353.png" --- # Doubtless a great anguish may do the work of years, and we… ![“Doubtless a great anguish may do the work of years, and we may come out from that baptism of fire with a soul full of new awe and new pity.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17e/george-eliot-84_anguish_doubtless-a-great-anguish-may-do-the-wor_2076353.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17e/george-eliot-84_anguish_doubtless-a-great-anguish-may-do-the-wor_2076353.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17e/george-eliot-84_anguish_doubtless-a-great-anguish-may-do-the-wor_2076353.png) > “Doubtless a great anguish may do the work of years, and we may come out from that baptism of fire with a soul full of new awe and new pity.” [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. Intense suffering can transform a person, granting fresh awe and compassion. **In simple terms:** Suffering can bring new insight and empathy. Key Takeaway Embrace growth through hardship. Themes suffering transformation empathy Mood somber hopeful Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - personal loss - creative crises - emotional healing Key Concepts catharsis spiritual rebirth Questions to Reflect On - What lessons arise from hardship? - Can suffering be avoided? A Different Perspective Not all pain leads to growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Anguish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anguish/) [Awe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awe/) [Baptism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/baptism/) [Compassion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compassion/) [Fire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fire/) [Pity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pity/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Spirituality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirituality/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) ## Related quotes > [Painting is a source of endless pleasure, but also of great anguish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/balthus/painting-is-a-source-of-endless-pleasure-but-also-of-great-anguish/) [Balthus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/balthus/) > [Deep, unspeakable suffering may well be called a baptism, a regeneration, the initiation into a new state. Suffering can be likened to a baptism…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/deep-unspeakable-suffering-may-well-be-called-a-baptism-a-2/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [There are natures in which, if they love us, we are conscious of having a sort of baptism and consecration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-natures-in-which-if-they-love-us-we-are-conscious-of-having/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“There is much pain that is quite noiseless; and vibrations that make human agonies are often a mere whisper in the roar of hurrying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-is-much-pain-that-is-quite-noiseless-and-vibrations-that-make/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [O the anguish of the thought that we can never atone to our dead for the stinted affection we gave them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/o-the-anguish-of-the-thought-that-we-can-never-atone-to-our-dead-for/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [No anguish I have had to bear on your account has been too heavy a price to pay for the new life into which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/no-anguish-i-have-had-to-bear-on-your-account-has-been-too-heavy-a/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [I know that with consecration on the part of believers, separation from the world, disentanglement from enslaving sins, and a mighty baptism of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abbott-eliot-kittredge/i-know-that-with-consecration-on-the-part-of-believers-separation/) [Abbott Eliot Kittredge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abbott-eliot-kittredge/) > [Knowing that there is one Baptism, we who hold the head and root of the One Church know for certain that to him who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cyprian/knowing-that-there-is-one-baptism-we-who-hold-the-head-and-root-of/) [Cyprian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cyprian/) > [Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins is an essential covenant to make with the Lord. Faith and repentance precede this ordinance. Confirmation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-theodore-tuttle/baptism-by-immersion-for-the-remission-of-sins-is-an-essential/) [A. Theodore Tuttle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-theodore-tuttle/) > [True greatness,true leadership,is found in giving yourself in service to others, not in coaxing or inducing others to serve you. True service is never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-oswald-sanders/true-greatness-true-leadership-is-found-in-giving-yourself-in-service/) [J. Oswald Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-oswald-sanders/) > [Each restorational advancement of the Army of the Lord has established denominational forts that are given responsibility to maintain the purity and power of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hamon/each-restorational-advancement-of-the-army-of-the-lord-has/) [Bill Hamon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hamon/) > [It is this one Spirit who makes it possible for an infant to be regenerated . . . when that infant is brought to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/it-is-this-one-spirit-who-makes-it-possible-for-an-infant-to-be/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [Wicked sons do not have the Holy Ghost in the same way as do beloved sons, and yet they do have Baptism. So, too,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/wicked-sons-do-not-have-the-holy-ghost-in-the-same-way-as-do-beloved/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [Men can be attracted but not forced to the faith. You may drive people to baptism, (but) you won't move them one step further…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alcuin/men-can-be-attracted-but-not-forced-to-the-faith-you-may-drive-people/) [Alcuin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alcuin/) > [“Baptism is a symbolic narrative not only of incorporation into Christ but also of ongoing life in Christ. Although a once-for-all death to sin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-gorman/baptism-is-a-symbolic-narrative-not-only-of-incorporation-into-christ/) [Michael J. Gorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-gorman/) ## 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 Anguish quotes > [“He put his forehead against hers. “Alannah, my heart is yours.” He said softly. “And yet, I must hand it over to someone else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-c-morin/he-put-his-forehead-against-hers-alannah-my-heart-is-yours-he-said/) [B.C. Morin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-c-morin/) > [Knowledge gives a wider choice and more anguish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-florman/knowledge-gives-a-wider-choice-and-more-anguish/) [Samuel Florman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-florman/) > [pg.9 "In my heart there's a peaceful anguish, and my calm is made of resignation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/pg-9-in-my-heart-there-s-a-peaceful-anguish-and-my-calm-is-made-of/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Memory, with its fugitive adjustments, is the merciful veil to the grim enactments of the first law. It hides the anguish in the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacy-aumonier/memory-with-its-fugitive-adjustments-is-the-merciful-veil-to-the-grim/) [Stacy Aumonier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacy-aumonier/) > [Our religion is itself profoundly sad - a religion of universal anguish, and one which, because of its very catholicity, grants full liberty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/our-religion-is-itself-profoundly-sad-a-religion-of-universal-anguish/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Being human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and mental anguish and assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but if we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/being-human-we-would-expel-from-our-lives-physical-pain-and-mental/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) > [The intellectuals' chief cause of anguish are one another's works. Jacques Barzun, 1959 all ignorance toboggans into know and trudges up to ignorance again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/the-intellectuals-chief-cause-of-anguish-are-one-another-s-works/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [I saw my parents as gods whose every wish must be obeyed or I would suffer the penalty of anguish and guilt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-wood/i-saw-my-parents-as-gods-whose-every-wish-must-be-obeyed-or-i-would/) [Natalie Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-wood/) > [Every last cast is actually a first cast. The first cast and first chance to catch the next fish. The next time you anguish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-bishop/every-last-cast-is-actually-a-first-cast-the-first-cast-and-first/) [Tony Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-bishop/) > [Journalism is an extraordinary and terrible privilege. Not by chance, if you are aware of it, does it consume you with a hundred feelings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oriana-fallaci/journalism-is-an-extraordinary-and-terrible-privilege-not-by-chance/) [Oriana Fallaci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oriana-fallaci/) > [I have discovered in my long life that there are many words and phrases which have more power than any spell of magick. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gemmell/i-have-discovered-in-my-long-life-that-there-are-many-words-and/) [David Gemmell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gemmell/) > [One realizes that human relationships are the tragic necessity of human life; that they can never be wholly satisfactory, that every ego is half…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/one-realizes-that-human-relationships-are-the-tragic-necessity-of/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-marceau/i-have-designed-my-style-pantomimes-as-white-ink-drawings-on-black/) [Marcel Marceau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-marceau/) > [So silently, peacefully, without hurry, without any tension, without any anguish, move into yourself instantly. It is urgent. Unless meditation becomes urgent to you,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/so-silently-peacefully-without-hurry-without-any-tension-without-any/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [It breaks my heart to think about a family weeping over the loss of a loved one. I understand the anguish that some feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-p-bush/it-breaks-my-heart-to-think-about-a-family-weeping-over-the-loss-of-a/) [George P. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-p-bush/) [Browse all 570 Anguish quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anguish/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Doubtless a great anguish may do the work of years, and we may come out from that baptism of fire with a soul full of new awe and new pity.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Eliot" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/doubtless-a-great-anguish-may-do-the-work-of-years-and-we-may-come/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Anguish" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/doubtless-a-great-anguish-may-do-the-work-of-years-and-we-may-come/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17e/george-eliot-84_anguish_doubtless-a-great-anguish-may-do-the-wor_2076353.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17e/george-eliot-84_anguish_doubtless-a-great-anguish-may-do-the-wor_2076353.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17e/george-eliot-84_anguish_doubtless-a-great-anguish-may-do-the-wor_2076353.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Doubtless a great anguish may do the work of years, and we may come out from that baptism of fire with a…” — 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": "Doubtless a great anguish may do...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/doubtless-a-great-anguish-may-do-the-work-of-years-and-we-may-come/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/doubtless-a-great-anguish-may-do-the-work-of-years-and-we-may-come/#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 } } ] } ```