--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It was a constant source of irritation to…" description: "\"“It was a constant source of irritation to him that the public men on his side were, on the whole, not conspicuously better than the public men on the ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/566/george-eliot-84_greatness_it-was-a-constant-source-of-irritation-t_2913771.png" --- # It was a constant source of irritation to him that the… ![“It was a constant source of irritation to him that the public men on his side were, on the whole, not conspicuously better than the public men on the other side.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/566/george-eliot-84_greatness_it-was-a-constant-source-of-irritation-t_2913771.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/566/george-eliot-84_greatness_it-was-a-constant-source-of-irritation-t_2913771.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/566/george-eliot-84_greatness_it-was-a-constant-source-of-irritation-t_2913771.png) > ““It was a constant source of irritation to him that the public men on his side were, on the whole, not conspicuously better than the public men on the other side.”” [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. Political allies often lack moral superiority, showing that public figures are not inherently better than opponents. **In simple terms:** Public men are not necessarily better than rivals. Key Takeaway Judge leaders by actions, not labels. Themes politics ethics leadership comparisons morality Mood analytical critical Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - elections - policy debates - public discourse Key Concepts political theory character analysis social critique Questions to Reflect On - How do we assess the true merit of public figures? - What criteria should guide our political judgments? A Different Perspective Assuming superiority can blind judgment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) [Irritation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/irritation/) ## Related quotes > [The . . . increase in the power of officials is a constant source of irritation to everybody else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/the-increase-in-the-power-of-officials-is-a-constant-source-of/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [Our public men are speaking every day on something, but they ain't saying anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-rogers/our-public-men-are-speaking-every-day-on-something-but-they-ain-t/) [Will Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-rogers/) > [In Europe public men do resign. But here it's a lost art. You have to impeach 'em.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-rogers/in-europe-public-men-do-resign-but-here-it-s-a-lost-art-you-have-to/) [Will Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-rogers/) > [No one asks public men to be strictly moral, but they must seem to be well-behaved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/storm-jameson/no-one-asks-public-men-to-be-strictly-moral-but-they-must-seem-to-be/) [Storm Jameson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/storm-jameson/) > [The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-adams/the-public-cannot-be-too-curious-concerning-the-characters-of-public/) [Samuel Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-adams/) > [The most powerful men are not public men: a public man is responsible, and a responsible man is a slave. It is private life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/the-most-powerful-men-are-not-public-men-a-public-man-is-responsible/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [The men who have guided the destiny of the United States have found the strength for their tasks by going to their knees. This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndon-b-johnson/the-men-who-have-guided-the-destiny-of-the-united-states-have-found/) [Lyndon B. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyndon-b-johnson/) > [Democracy is a word all public men use and none understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/democracy-is-a-word-all-public-men-use-and-none-understand/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [In government offices which are sensitive to the vehemence and passion of mass sentiment public men have no sure tenure. They are in effect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-lippmann/in-government-offices-which-are-sensitive-to-the-vehemence-and/) [Walter Lippmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-lippmann/) > [The prevailin' weakness of most public men is to Slop Over!… G. Washington never slopt over.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/artemas-ward/the-prevailin-weakness-of-most-public-men-is-to-slop-over-g/) [Artemas Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/artemas-ward/) > [Unjust attacks on public men do them more good than unmerited praise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutherford-b-hayes/unjust-attacks-on-public-men-do-them-more-good-than-unmerited-praise/) [Rutherford B. Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutherford-b-hayes/) > [The men who administer public affairs must first of all see that everyone holds onto what is his, and that private men are never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-tullius-cicero/the-men-who-administer-public-affairs-must-first-of-all-see-that/) [Marcus Tullius Cicero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-tullius-cicero/) > [Men can do nothing without the make-believe of a beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/men-can-do-nothing-without-the-make-believe-of-a-beginning/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [In the eyes of those lovers of perfection, a work is never finished a word that for them has no sense but abandoned; and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/in-the-eyes-of-those-lovers-of-perfection-a-work-is-never-finished-a/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [“Nonsense. One day, the right man will come along, and you’ll change your mind.” Harriet wasn’t so sure. In all her twenty-four years, she’d…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-hawkins/nonsense-one-day-the-right-man-will-come-along-and-you-ll-change-your/) [Karen Hawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-hawkins/) ## 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 Greatness quotes > [The man who can master his time can master nearly anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/the-man-who-can-master-his-time-can-master-nearly-anything/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [Every man who is high up likes to think that he has done it all himself, and the wife smiles and lets it go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/every-man-who-is-high-up-likes-to-think-that-he-has-done-it-all/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straghtforward men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/what-we-shall-need-is-not-geniuses-or-cynics-or-misanthropes-or/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [“The power of imagination is strongest in the place of solitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/the-power-of-imagination-is-strongest-in-the-place-of-solitude/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [“You are destiny for greatness. Your future is in the hands of the Lord.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/you-are-destiny-for-greatness-your-future-is-in-the-hands-of-the-lord/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [We need to discover all over again that worship is natural to the Christian, as it was to the godly Israelites who wrote the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-i-packer/we-need-to-discover-all-over-again-that-worship-is-natural-to-the/) [J. I. Packer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-i-packer/) > [Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/each-man-is-capable-of-doing-one-thing-well-if-he-attempts-several-he/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office-seeking. Men of good character and impulses are betrayed by it into all sorts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutherford-b-hayes/nothing-brings-out-the-lower-traits-of-human-nature-like-office/) [Rutherford B. Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutherford-b-hayes/) > [Men generally decide upon a middle course, which is most hazardous, for they know neither how to be entirely good nor entirely bad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niccolo-machiavelli/men-generally-decide-upon-a-middle-course-which-is-most-hazardous-for/) [Niccolo Machiavelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niccolo-machiavelli/) > [Every man remembers his childhood as a kind of mythical age, just as every nation's childhood is its mythical age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giacomo-leopardi/every-man-remembers-his-childhood-as-a-kind-of-mythical-age-just-as/) [Giacomo Leopardi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giacomo-leopardi/) > [Greatness is not guarding yourself from people. Greatness is being accepted by the people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-tyson/greatness-is-not-guarding-yourself-from-people-greatness-is-being/) [Mike Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-tyson/) > [The superior man is distressed by his want (lack) of ability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/confucius/the-superior-man-is-distressed-by-his-want-lack-of-ability/) [Confucius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/confucius/) > [Great men don't 'move to the center' - great men move the center!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/great-men-don-t-move-to-the-center-great-men-move-the-center/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) > [Perfection is the enemy of greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janelle-monae/perfection-is-the-enemy-of-greatness/) [Janelle Monae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janelle-monae/) > [Men want a challenge, but they want a challenge they can win.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitney-gaskell/men-want-a-challenge-but-they-want-a-challenge-they-can-win/) Whitney Gaskell [Browse all 7,631 Greatness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It was a constant source of irritation to him that the public men on his side were, on the whole, not conspicuously better than the public men on the other side.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Eliot" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/it-was-a-constant-source-of-irritation-to-him-that-the-public-men-on/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Greatness" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/it-was-a-constant-source-of-irritation-to-him-that-the-public-men-on/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/566/george-eliot-84_greatness_it-was-a-constant-source-of-irritation-t_2913771.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/566/george-eliot-84_greatness_it-was-a-constant-source-of-irritation-t_2913771.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/566/george-eliot-84_greatness_it-was-a-constant-source-of-irritation-t_2913771.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It was a constant source of irritation to him that the public men on his side were, on the whole, not…” — 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": "“It was a constant source of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/it-was-a-constant-source-of-irritation-to-him-that-the-public-men-on/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/it-was-a-constant-source-of-irritation-to-him-that-the-public-men-on/#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 } } ] } ```