---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Every year strips us of at least one vain…"
description: "\"Every year strips us of at least one vain expectation, and teaches us to reckon some solid good in its stead.\" — George Eliot"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/522/george-eliot-84_expectation_every-year-strips-us-of-at-least-one-vai_1843983.png"
---

#  Every year strips us of at least one vain expectation, and…

![“Every year strips us of at least one vain expectation, and teaches us to reckon some solid good in its stead.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/522/george-eliot-84_expectation_every-year-strips-us-of-at-least-one-vai_1843983.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/522/george-eliot-84_expectation_every-year-strips-us-of-at-least-one-vai_1843983.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/522/george-eliot-84_expectation_every-year-strips-us-of-at-least-one-vai_1843983.png)

> “Every year strips us of at least one vain expectation, and teaches us to reckon some solid good in its stead.”

[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.

Life gradually removes vanity, replacing it with appreciation for genuine, lasting values.

**In simple terms:** Vanity fades, real values remain.

Key Takeaway

Cultivate humility and gratitude.

Themes

growth humility expectations life lessons

Mood

hopeful reflective

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

- personal development
- relationship building
- career planning
- spiritual practice

Key Concepts

existentialism humanism

Questions to Reflect On

- What expectations have you let go?
- How do you find lasting good?

A Different Perspective

Loss can be painful, not just cleansing.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Expectations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expectations/) [Vain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vain/)

## Related quotes

> [One has to spend so many years in learning how to be happy. I am just beginning to make some progress in the science,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/one-has-to-spend-so-many-years-in-learning-how-to-be-happy-i-am-just/)

[George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/)

> [Good work in the building of my vessel stood me always in good stead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-slocum/good-work-in-the-building-of-my-vessel-stood-me-always-in-good-stead/)

[Joshua Slocum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-slocum/)

> [Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/old-father-old-artificer-stand-me-now-and-ever-in-good-stead/)

[James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/)

> [I would say I am an ordinary bowler but one with a really big heart, and that's what has stood me in good stead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harbhajan-singh/i-would-say-i-am-an-ordinary-bowler-but-one-with-a-really-big-heart/)

[Harbhajan Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harbhajan-singh/)

> [I've decided to lead in a way that takes people with me. It's the approach that I think will stand not only our party…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-weatherill/i-ve-decided-to-lead-in-a-way-that-takes-people-with-me-it-s-the/)

[Jay Weatherill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-weatherill/)

> [I think that my past stands me in good stead in that it does have a certain strength for musicians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-sebastian/i-think-that-my-past-stands-me-in-good-stead-in-that-it-does-have-a/)

[John Sebastian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-sebastian/)

> [If you're writing about what you're feeling about something, then you're in good stead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-capaldi/if-you-re-writing-about-what-you-re-feeling-about-something-then-you/)

[Lewis Capaldi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-capaldi/)

> [“It felt civilised and modern. It felt refined and tantalising, all at once, like a polite collective pre-orgasm.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/it-felt-civilised-and-modern-it-felt-refined-and-tantalising-all-at/)

[Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/)

> [Treat the people the way you expect them to treat you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nishchal-ningleku/treat-the-people-the-way-you-expect-them-to-treat-you/)

[Nishchal Ningleku](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nishchal-ningleku/)

> [“Expectation and fact are two different things that people usually cannot differentiate.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-suggs/expectation-and-fact-are-two-different-things-that-people-usually/)

[Lionel Suggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-suggs/)

> [Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. Security is an insipid thing, through the overtaking and possessing of a wish discovers the folly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-congreve/uncertainty-and-expectation-are-the-joys-of-life-security-is-an/)

[William Congreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-congreve/)

> [Never depend on anyone else's strength but God's strength to help you through and nor expect from anyone except God to be with you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anurag-prakash-ray/never-depend-on-anyone-else-s-strength-but-god-s-strength-to-help-you/)

[Anurag Prakash Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anurag-prakash-ray/)

> [Representing the Selecao is a very great expectation, being able to play is even greater.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ederson/representing-the-selecao-is-a-very-great-expectation-being-able-to/)

[Ederson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ederson/)

> [The night is saturated with inspiration¦ I cant imagine wasting a minute of it with my eyes or ears closed. I live dreams, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-timbre/the-night-is-saturated-with-inspiration-i-cant-imagine-wasting-a/)

[Jamie Timbre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-timbre/)

> [Keeping up with everybody's expectation is soooo hard!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi/keeping-up-with-everybody-s-expectation-is-soooo-hard/)

[Naomi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi/)

## 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 Expectation quotes

> [Keeping up with everybody's expectation is soooo hard!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi/keeping-up-with-everybody-s-expectation-is-soooo-hard/)

[Naomi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi/)

> [The night is saturated with inspiration¦ I cant imagine wasting a minute of it with my eyes or ears closed. I live dreams, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-timbre/the-night-is-saturated-with-inspiration-i-cant-imagine-wasting-a/)

[Jamie Timbre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-timbre/)

> [Representing the Selecao is a very great expectation, being able to play is even greater.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ederson/representing-the-selecao-is-a-very-great-expectation-being-able-to/)

[Ederson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ederson/)

> [Never depend on anyone else's strength but God's strength to help you through and nor expect from anyone except God to be with you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anurag-prakash-ray/never-depend-on-anyone-else-s-strength-but-god-s-strength-to-help-you/)

[Anurag Prakash Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anurag-prakash-ray/)

> [Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. Security is an insipid thing, through the overtaking and possessing of a wish discovers the folly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-congreve/uncertainty-and-expectation-are-the-joys-of-life-security-is-an/)

[William Congreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-congreve/)

> [“Expectation and fact are two different things that people usually cannot differentiate.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-suggs/expectation-and-fact-are-two-different-things-that-people-usually/)

[Lionel Suggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-suggs/)

> [Treat the people the way you expect them to treat you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nishchal-ningleku/treat-the-people-the-way-you-expect-them-to-treat-you/)

[Nishchal Ningleku](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nishchal-ningleku/)

> [“It felt civilised and modern. It felt refined and tantalising, all at once, like a polite collective pre-orgasm.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/it-felt-civilised-and-modern-it-felt-refined-and-tantalising-all-at/)

[Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/)

> [“I have every expectation that we will see the following become a recognized human disease in the future: Metal Sickness”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-magee/i-have-every-expectation-that-we-will-see-the-following-become-a/)

[Steven Magee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-magee/)

> [Any reasonable ruler would have the expectation and the demand the other way round.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-erikson/any-reasonable-ruler-would-have-the-expectation-and-the-demand-the/)

[Steven Erikson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-erikson/)

> [People are disturbed not by things, but by the view they take of them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/people-are-disturbed-not-by-things-but-by-the-view-they-take-of-them-2/)

[Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/)

> [Never expect naything from any body because human brain changes when the status changed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/never-expect-naything-from-any-body-because-human-brain-changes-when/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Aspiration and expectation are two eternal life devil mangrieving Choice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/aspiration-and-expectation-are-two-eternal-life-devil-mangrieving/)

Mak\_786

> [We part more easily with what we possess, than with our expectations of what we wish for; because expectation always goes beyond enjoyment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-home-lord-kames/we-part-more-easily-with-what-we-possess-than-with-our-expectations/)

[Henry Home, Lord Kames](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-home-lord-kames/)

> [“Clients don't pay you to try. Their least expectation is to at least get from you value for their money. However, your aim should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-amanyire/clients-don-t-pay-you-to-try-their-least-expectation-is-to-at-least/)

Allan Amanyire

Browse all 759 Expectation quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Every year strips us of at least one vain expectation, and teaches us to reckon some solid good in its stead.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "George Eliot"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/every-year-strips-us-of-at-least-one-vain-expectation-and-teaches-us/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Expectation"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/every-year-strips-us-of-at-least-one-vain-expectation-and-teaches-us/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/522/george-eliot-84_expectation_every-year-strips-us-of-at-least-one-vai_1843983.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/522/george-eliot-84_expectation_every-year-strips-us-of-at-least-one-vai_1843983.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/522/george-eliot-84_expectation_every-year-strips-us-of-at-least-one-vai_1843983.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Every year strips us of at least one vain expectation, and teaches us to reckon some solid good in its stead.” — 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": "Every year strips us of at...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/every-year-strips-us-of-at-least-one-vain-expectation-and-teaches-us/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/every-year-strips-us-of-at-least-one-vain-expectation-and-teaches-us/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```