--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: She seated herself on a dark ottoman with…" description: "\"“She seated herself on a dark ottoman with the brown books behind her, looking in her plain dress of some thin woollen-white material, without a single..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/708/george-eliot-84_books_she-seated-herself-on-a-dark-ottoman-wit_904869.jpg" --- # She seated herself on a dark ottoman with the brown books… ![“She seated herself on a dark ottoman with the brown books behind her, looking in her plain dress of some thin woollen-white material, without a single ornament on her besides her wedding-ring, as if she were under a vow to be different from all other women; and Will sat down opposite her at two…” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/708/george-eliot-84_books_she-seated-herself-on-a-dark-ottoman-wit_904869.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/708/george-eliot-84_books_she-seated-herself-on-a-dark-ottoman-wit_904869.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/708/george-eliot-84_books_she-seated-herself-on-a-dark-ottoman-wit_904869.jpg) > ““She seated herself on a dark ottoman with the brown books behind her, looking in her plain dress of some thin woollen-white material, without a single ornament on her besides her wedding-ring, as if she were under a vow to be different from all other women; and Will sat down opposite her at two yards' distance, the light falling on his bright curls and delicate but rather petulant profile, with its defiant curves of lip and chin. Each looked at the other as if they had been two flowers which had opened then and there. Dorothea for the moment forgot her husband's mysterious irritation against Will: it seemed fresh water at her thirsty lips to speak without fear to the one person whom she had found receptive; for in looking backward through sadness she exaggerated a past solace.”” [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. A woman seeks authentic connection, feeling safe to speak openly with a receptive partner, contrasting with her marital tension. **In simple terms:** She finds comfort speaking freely with someone who understands. Key Takeaway Seek honest dialogue with trusted listeners. Themes authenticity communication intimacy Mood thoughtful intimate Type literary reflective When to use this quote - marriage counseling - friendship building - creative writing - personal reflection Key Concepts vulnerability gender roles emotional intimacy Questions to Reflect On - How does vulnerability change relational dynamics? - What barriers prevent honest conversation? A Different Perspective The partner may not always be receptive, limiting openness. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Fresh water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fresh-water/) [Sadness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sadness/) ## Related quotes > [You remember when you were maybe five years old and you went out in the morning and you looked at the day - and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-ron-hubbard/you-remember-when-you-were-maybe-five-years-old-and-you-went-out-in/) [L. 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Serve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-vanderhoof/accras-saltfish-fritters-accras-or-acrats-de-morue-are-saltfish/) [Ann Vanderhoof](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-vanderhoof/) > [“A brick could be used as a floating object that dispensed fresh water, if only it were lighter and shaped like a cloud. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/a-brick-could-be-used-as-a-floating-object-that-dispensed-fresh-water/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [You will have five hundred million little bells, and I shall have five hundred million springs of fresh water...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/you-will-have-five-hundred-million-little-bells-and-i-shall-have-five/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [ “4. Man is neither Good-natured nor Bad-natured according to Su Shih (So-shoku).\[FN#164\] The difficulty may be avoided by a theory given by Su Shih… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kaiten-nukariya/4-man-is-neither-good-natured-nor-bad-natured-according-to-su-shih-so/) [Kaiten Nukariya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kaiten-nukariya/) > [“The alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan had brought. Leafing through the pages, he found a story about Narcissus. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/the-alchemist-picked-up-a-book-that-someone-in-the-caravan-had/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [There is no domestic issue more important to America in the long run than the conservation and proper use of our natural resources, including…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaylord-nelson/there-is-no-domestic-issue-more-important-to-america-in-the-long-run/) [Gaylord Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaylord-nelson/) > [The shortage of fresh water is the major ecological problem of this moment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikhail-gorbachev/the-shortage-of-fresh-water-is-the-major-ecological-problem-of-this/) [Mikhail Gorbachev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mikhail-gorbachev/) > [“Our pals over at Wikipedia make hair sounds like the sun of fresh water, saying in their snooty tone that head hair has "gained…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-pasricha/our-pals-over-at-wikipedia-make-hair-sounds-like-the-sun-of-fresh/) [Neil Pasricha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-pasricha/) > [At my death paint my body with red paint and plunge it into fresh water to be restored back to life, otherwise my bones…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/crazy-horse/at-my-death-paint-my-body-with-red-paint-and-plunge-it-into-fresh/) [Crazy Horse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/crazy-horse/) > [“It's like asking me to describe fresh water. I need it to live. I need her to live”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/calia-read/it-s-like-asking-me-to-describe-fresh-water-i-need-it-to-live-i-need/) [Calia Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/calia-read/) ## 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 Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. 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Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) Markus Herz > [But editors are still the world's readers. 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