--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Some have felt that these blundering…" description: "\"“Some have felt that these blundering lives are due to the inconvenient indefiniteness with which the Supreme Power has fashioned the natures of women:..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/711/george-eliot-84_supreme-power_some-have-felt-that-these-blundering-liv_1630793.jpg" --- # Some have felt that these blundering lives are due to the… ![“Some have felt that these blundering lives are due to the inconvenient indefiniteness with which the Supreme Power has fashioned the natures of women: if there were one level of feminine incompetence as strict as the ability to count three and no more, the social lot of women might be treated with…” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/711/george-eliot-84_supreme-power_some-have-felt-that-these-blundering-liv_1630793.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/711/george-eliot-84_supreme-power_some-have-felt-that-these-blundering-liv_1630793.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/711/george-eliot-84_supreme-power_some-have-felt-that-these-blundering-liv_1630793.jpg) > ““Some have felt that these blundering lives are due to the inconvenient indefiniteness with which the Supreme Power has fashioned the natures of women: if there were one level of feminine incompetence as strict as the ability to count three and no more, the social lot of women might be treated with scientific certitude. Meanwhile the indefiniteness remains, and the limits of variation are really much wider than any one would imagine from the sameness of women's coiffure and the favorite love-stories in prose and verse. Here and there a cygnet is reared uneasily among the ducklings in the brown pond, and never finds the living stream in fellowship with its own oary-footed kind. Here and there is born a Saint Theresa, foundress of nothing, whose loving heart-beats and sobs after an unattained goodness tremble off and are dispersed among hindrances, instead of centring in some long-recognizable deed.”” [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. Women face unpredictable societal expectations that make their roles seem ill-defined and limit their opportunities. **In simple terms:** Women struggle with vague expectations and limited chances. Key Takeaway Recognize and challenge vague gender expectations. Themes gender society expectations identity limitations Mood reflective critical Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - career advancement - education - family dynamics - personal growth Key Concepts feminist critique social determinism Questions to Reflect On - How do societal expectations shape personal identity? - What can be done to broaden opportunities for women? A Different Perspective Oversimplifies women's experiences to a single narrative. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Feminine Incompetence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feminine-incompetence-482190/) [Inconvenient Indefiniteness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inconvenient-indefiniteness-482191/) [Indefiniteness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/indefiniteness-381802/) [Indefiniteness Remains](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/indefiniteness-remains-482192/) [Loving Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loving-heart/) [Sameness Women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sameness-women-482193/) [Supreme power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/supreme-power/) ## Related quotes > [Body', 'soul', and 'spirit' may designate phenomenal domains which can be detached as themes for definite investigations; within certain limits their ontological indefiniteness may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-heidegger/body-soul-and-spirit-may-designate-phenomenal-domains-which-can-be/) [Martin Heidegger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-heidegger/) > [“Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/is-it-that-by-its-indefiniteness-it-shadows-forth-the-heartless-voids/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [“Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/is-it-that-by-its-indefiniteness-it-shadows-forth-the-heartless-voids-2/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [What is certain in death is somewhat softened by what is uncertain; it is an indefiniteness in the time, which holds a certain relation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/what-is-certain-in-death-is-somewhat-softened-by-what-is-uncertain-it/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [“Do you know what frees one from this captivity? It is every deep serious affection. Being friends, being brothers, love, these open the prison…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-van-gogh/do-you-know-what-frees-one-from-this-captivity-it-is-every-deep/) [Vincent van Gogh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-van-gogh/) > [There is a supreme power and ruling force which pervades and rules the boundless universe. You are a part of this power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prentice-mulford/there-is-a-supreme-power-and-ruling-force-which-pervades-and-rules/) [Prentice Mulford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prentice-mulford/) > [It is a misnomer to call a government republican in which a branch of the supreme power is independent of the nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/it-is-a-misnomer-to-call-a-government-republican-in-which-a-branch-of/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [We are all agents of the same supreme power, the people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-webster/we-are-all-agents-of-the-same-supreme-power-the-people/) [Daniel Webster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-webster/) > [How does a pansy, for example, select the ingredients from soil to get the right colors for the flower? Now there's a great miracle.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clyde-tombaugh/how-does-a-pansy-for-example-select-the-ingredients-from-soil-to-get/) [Clyde Tombaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clyde-tombaugh/) > [“Men, discouraged by their failure to accomplish exactly what they desire, often speak of their lives as purposeless, but it is idle talk, for,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-a-widtsoe/men-discouraged-by-their-failure-to-accomplish-exactly-what-they/) [John A. Widtsoe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-a-widtsoe/) > [“The secret of imagining is the greatest of all problems to the solution of which the mystic aspires. Supreme power, supreme wisdom, supreme delight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-fawcett/the-secret-of-imagining-is-the-greatest-of-all-problems-to-the/) [Douglas Fawcett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-fawcett/) > [“God is the most supreme. His power is without comparism. He is the impossibility specialist. All glory to him. Amen”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chinyere-nwakwue/god-is-the-most-supreme-his-power-is-without-comparism-he-is-the/) [Chinyere Nwakwue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chinyere-nwakwue/) > [If you look at the architecture of Washington, D.C., it is not by mistake that the dome over the Capitol is the very center…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cathy-mcmorris-rodgers/if-you-look-at-the-architecture-of-washington-d-c-it-is-not-by/) [Cathy McMorris Rodgers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cathy-mcmorris-rodgers/) > [“Now, perhaps nowhere as poignantly as in the omnipresent theme of Christ dying on the cross, the central image of art is no longer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/riane-eisler/now-perhaps-nowhere-as-poignantly-as-in-the-omnipresent-theme-of/) [Riane Eisler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/riane-eisler/) > [“...those impious epicures, libertines, atheists, hypocrites, infidels, worldly, secure, impenitent, unthankful, and carnal-minded men, that attribute all to natural causes, that will acknowledge no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-burton/those-impious-epicures-libertines-atheists-hypocrites-infidels/) [Robert Burton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-burton/) ## 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 Supreme power quotes > [“...those impious epicures, libertines, atheists, hypocrites, infidels, worldly, secure, impenitent, unthankful, and carnal-minded men, that attribute all to natural causes, that will acknowledge no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-burton/those-impious-epicures-libertines-atheists-hypocrites-infidels/) [Robert Burton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-burton/) > [“Now, perhaps nowhere as poignantly as in the omnipresent theme of Christ dying on the cross, the central image of art is no longer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/riane-eisler/now-perhaps-nowhere-as-poignantly-as-in-the-omnipresent-theme-of/) [Riane Eisler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/riane-eisler/) > [If you look at the architecture of Washington, D.C., it is not by mistake that the dome over the Capitol is the very center…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cathy-mcmorris-rodgers/if-you-look-at-the-architecture-of-washington-d-c-it-is-not-by/) [Cathy McMorris Rodgers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cathy-mcmorris-rodgers/) > [“God is the most supreme. His power is without comparism. He is the impossibility specialist. All glory to him. Amen”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chinyere-nwakwue/god-is-the-most-supreme-his-power-is-without-comparism-he-is-the/) [Chinyere Nwakwue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chinyere-nwakwue/) > [“The secret of imagining is the greatest of all problems to the solution of which the mystic aspires. Supreme power, supreme wisdom, supreme delight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-fawcett/the-secret-of-imagining-is-the-greatest-of-all-problems-to-the/) [Douglas Fawcett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-fawcett/) > [“Men, discouraged by their failure to accomplish exactly what they desire, often speak of their lives as purposeless, but it is idle talk, for,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-a-widtsoe/men-discouraged-by-their-failure-to-accomplish-exactly-what-they/) [John A. Widtsoe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-a-widtsoe/) > [How does a pansy, for example, select the ingredients from soil to get the right colors for the flower? Now there's a great miracle.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clyde-tombaugh/how-does-a-pansy-for-example-select-the-ingredients-from-soil-to-get/) [Clyde Tombaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clyde-tombaugh/) > [We are all agents of the same supreme power, the people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-webster/we-are-all-agents-of-the-same-supreme-power-the-people/) [Daniel Webster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-webster/) > [It is a misnomer to call a government republican in which a branch of the supreme power is independent of the nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/it-is-a-misnomer-to-call-a-government-republican-in-which-a-branch-of/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [There is a supreme power and ruling force which pervades and rules the boundless universe. You are a part of this power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prentice-mulford/there-is-a-supreme-power-and-ruling-force-which-pervades-and-rules/) [Prentice Mulford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prentice-mulford/) > [“Do you know what frees one from this captivity? It is every deep serious affection. Being friends, being brothers, love, these open the prison…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-van-gogh/do-you-know-what-frees-one-from-this-captivity-it-is-every-deep/) [Vincent van Gogh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-van-gogh/) > [We have said that the State must not absorb the individual or the family; both should be allowed free and untrammelled action so far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-xiii/we-have-said-that-the-state-must-not-absorb-the-individual-or-the/) [Pope Leo XIII](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-xiii/) > [The foremost or indeed sole condition required in order to succeed in centralizing the supreme power in a democratic community is to love equality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexis-de-tocqueville/the-foremost-or-indeed-sole-condition-required-in-order-to-succeed-in/) [Alexis de Tocqueville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexis-de-tocqueville/) > [Let us unite them together in one supreme power which shall govern us all according to wise laws, protect us and defend all members…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/let-us-unite-them-together-in-one-supreme-power-which-shall-govern-us/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [“Show me someone who is humble enough to accept and take responsibility for his or her circumstances and courageous enough to take whatever initiative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-covey/show-me-someone-who-is-humble-enough-to-accept-and-take/) [Stephen R. Covey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-covey/) [Browse all 88 Supreme power quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/supreme-power/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Some have felt that these blundering lives are due to the inconvenient indefiniteness with which the Supreme Power has fashioned the natures of women: if there were one level of feminine incompetence as strict as the ability to count three and no more, the social lot of women might be treated with scientific certitude. Meanwhile the indefiniteness remains, and the limits of variation are really much wider than any one would imagine from the sameness of women's coiffure and the favorite love-stories in prose and verse. Here and there a cygnet is reared uneasily among the ducklings in the brown pond, and never finds the living stream in fellowship with its own oary-footed kind. Here and there is born a Saint Theresa, foundress of nothing, whose loving heart-beats and sobs after an unattained goodness tremble off and are dispersed among hindrances, instead of centring in some long-recognizable deed.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Eliot" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/some-have-felt-that-these-blundering-lives-are-due-to-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Supreme power" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/some-have-felt-that-these-blundering-lives-are-due-to-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/711/george-eliot-84_supreme-power_some-have-felt-that-these-blundering-liv_1630793.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/711/george-eliot-84_supreme-power_some-have-felt-that-these-blundering-liv_1630793.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/711/george-eliot-84_supreme-power_some-have-felt-that-these-blundering-liv_1630793.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Some have felt that these blundering lives are due to the inconvenient indefiniteness with which the Supreme…” — 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": "“Some have felt that these blundering...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/some-have-felt-that-these-blundering-lives-are-due-to-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/some-have-felt-that-these-blundering-lives-are-due-to-the/#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 } } ] } ```