--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The words of genius have a wider meaning…" description: "\"The words of genius have a wider meaning than the thought that prompted them.\" — George Eliot" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a2/george-eliot-84_genius_the-words-of-genius-have-a-wider-meaning_2960071.png" --- # The words of genius have a wider meaning than the thought… ![“The words of genius have a wider meaning than the thought that prompted them.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a2/george-eliot-84_genius_the-words-of-genius-have-a-wider-meaning_2960071.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a2/george-eliot-84_genius_the-words-of-genius-have-a-wider-meaning_2960071.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a2/george-eliot-84_genius_the-words-of-genius-have-a-wider-meaning_2960071.png) > “The words of genius have a wider meaning than the thought that prompted them.” [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. Genius ideas often outgrow their original context, gaining broader significance over time. **In simple terms:** Great ideas become bigger than their origin. Key Takeaway Recognize the lasting impact of creative thoughts. Themes creativity legacy interpretation Mood thoughtful inquisitive Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - education - art criticism - innovation strategy Key Concepts philosophy literature Questions to Reflect On - How does context shape meaning? - Can a work’s impact exceed its creator’s intent? A Different Perspective Original intent may be misinterpreted. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Genius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/genius/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Intelligence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intelligence/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [There are films that can only be made in a specific country but that have a wider meaning. I think that's true of any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-davies/there-are-films-that-can-only-be-made-in-a-specific-country-but-that/) Terence Davies > [“Don’t worry about genius—just keep churning out the words. Genius comes naturally.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-l-dicker/don-t-worry-about-genius-just-keep-churning-out-the-words-genius/) [Joël Dicker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-l-dicker/) > [The words "genius" and "genuine" derive from the same root. The core of genius is authenticity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/the-words-genius-and-genuine-derive-from-the-same-root-the-core-of/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [The responsibility of tolerance lies with those who have the wider vision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/the-responsibility-of-tolerance-lies-with-those-who-have-the-wider/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“The responsibility of tolerance lies in those who have the wider vision.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/the-responsibility-of-tolerance-lies-in-those-who-have-the-wider/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Steady work turns genius to a loom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/steady-work-turns-genius-to-a-loom/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > ['Ranjhana' and 'Shamitabh' really gave me a wider exposure to Hindi-speaking audience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dhanush/ranjhana-and-shamitabh-really-gave-me-a-wider-exposure-to-hindi/) [Dhanush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dhanush/) > [“When change is brewing in your life, open your eyes, and if they are already open, open them wider.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matshona-dhliwayo/when-change-is-brewing-in-your-life-open-your-eyes-and-if-they-are/) [Matshona Dhliwayo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matshona-dhliwayo/) > [Here's the rule that I set for myself, and I believe it - even on a show like 'Curb Your Enthusiasm': the more personal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-steinberg/here-s-the-rule-that-i-set-for-myself-and-i-believe-it-even-on-a-show/) [David Steinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-steinberg/) > [As for pineapple, it's far more versatile than you might think, and certainly merits wider use than in Hawaiian pizzas and pina coladas and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yotam-ottolenghi/as-for-pineapple-it-s-far-more-versatile-than-you-might-think-and/) [Yotam Ottolenghi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yotam-ottolenghi/) > [The liberal professions, and in a wider sense the well-to-do classes, are certainly those with the liveliest taste for knowledge and the most active…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-durkheim/the-liberal-professions-and-in-a-wider-sense-the-well-to-do-classes/) [Emile Durkheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-durkheim/) > [“to make the bounds of freedom wider yet,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-make-the-bounds-of-freedom-wider-yet/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I don't agree with the sentiment 'write what you know.'... I think one should write what one doesn't know. The world is bigger and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/i-don-t-agree-with-the-sentiment-write-what-you-know-i-think-one/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [We seek no wider war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-p-bundy/we-seek-no-wider-war/) William P. Bundy > [Politics is about the participation and engagement of the wider citizenry - to miss that point would doom us to irrelevance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-blunkett/politics-is-about-the-participation-and-engagement-of-the-wider/) [David Blunkett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-blunkett/) ## 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 Genius quotes > [“If people fully understand you, they will think of you as a normal, if they half understand you, will think of you as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-f-moonzajer/if-people-fully-understand-you-they-will-think-of-you-as-a-normal-if/) [M.F. Moonzajer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-f-moonzajer/) > [Woman, in short, has an unconscious life, man a conscious life, and the genius the most conscious life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otto-weininger/woman-in-short-has-an-unconscious-life-man-a-conscious-life-and-the/) [Otto Weininger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otto-weininger/) > [ Next came the Patent laws. These began in England in 1624; and, in this country, with the adoption of our constitution. Before then \[these?\],… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/next-came-the-patent-laws-these-began-in-england-in-1624-and-in-this/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [The truth is I've just never had any kind of plan at all for my career, which is probably not a very flattering thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ty-burrell/the-truth-is-i-ve-just-never-had-any-kind-of-plan-at-all-for-my/) [Ty Burrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ty-burrell/) > [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/) > [I have no physical genius about me. I can't dribble a ball and run at the same time, I can't do lay-ups - I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rich-mullins/i-have-no-physical-genius-about-me-i-can-t-dribble-a-ball-and-run-at/) [Rich Mullins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rich-mullins/) > [I have known many chess players, but among them there has been only one genius - Capablanca!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emanuel-lasker/i-have-known-many-chess-players-but-among-them-there-has-been-only/) [Emanuel Lasker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emanuel-lasker/) > [A time will come when the science of destruction shall bend before the arts of peace; when the genius which multiplies our powers, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-arago/a-time-will-come-when-the-science-of-destruction-shall-bend-before/) [Francois Arago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-arago/) > [One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius; and the feminine situation has up to the present rendered this becoming practically impossible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/one-is-not-born-a-genius-one-becomes-a-genius-and-the-feminine/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [The beginning of genius is being scared shitless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-ferdinand-celine/the-beginning-of-genius-is-being-scared-shitless/) [Louis-Ferdinand Celine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-ferdinand-celine/) > [Treason implies responsibility for something, control over something, influence upon something, knowledge of something. Treason in our time is a proof of genius. Why,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/treason-implies-responsibility-for-something-control-over-something/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/mediocrity-knows-nothing-higher-than-itself-but-talent-instantly/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [With the proper training, I could've been an evil genius.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-carlin/with-the-proper-training-i-could-ve-been-an-evil-genius/) [George Carlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-carlin/) > [Never try to judge any one](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajat-dogra/never-try-to-judge-any-one/) [Rajat Dogra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajat-dogra/) > [“genius is a path that we can all take and derive much benefit, happiness, fulfillment, and success from...not a genetic windfall or divine gift.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-patrick/genius-is-a-path-that-we-can-all-take-and-derive-much-benefit/) [Sean Patrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-patrick/) [Browse all 5,125 Genius quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/genius/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The words of genius have a wider meaning than the thought that prompted them.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Eliot" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/the-words-of-genius-have-a-wider-meaning-than-the-thought-that/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Genius" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/the-words-of-genius-have-a-wider-meaning-than-the-thought-that/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a2/george-eliot-84_genius_the-words-of-genius-have-a-wider-meaning_2960071.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a2/george-eliot-84_genius_the-words-of-genius-have-a-wider-meaning_2960071.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a2/george-eliot-84_genius_the-words-of-genius-have-a-wider-meaning_2960071.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The words of genius have a wider meaning than the thought that prompted them.” — 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": "The words of genius have a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/the-words-of-genius-have-a-wider-meaning-than-the-thought-that/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/the-words-of-genius-have-a-wider-meaning-than-the-thought-that/#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 } } ] } ```