--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There are episodes in most men's lives in…" description: "\"“There are episodes in most men's lives in which their highest qualities can only cast a deterring shadow over the objects that fill their inward versi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/george-eliot-84_greatness_there-are-episodes-in-most-men-s-lives-i_3116405.png" --- # There are episodes in most men's lives in which their… ![“There are episodes in most men's lives in which their highest qualities can only cast a deterring shadow over the objects that fill their inward version.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/george-eliot-84_greatness_there-are-episodes-in-most-men-s-lives-i_3116405.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/george-eliot-84_greatness_there-are-episodes-in-most-men-s-lives-i_3116405.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/george-eliot-84_greatness_there-are-episodes-in-most-men-s-lives-i_3116405.png) > ““There are episodes in most men's lives in which their highest qualities can only cast a deterring shadow over the objects that fill their inward version.”” [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. People’s best traits can sometimes hinder them when faced with inner conflicts and external expectations. **In simple terms:** Great qualities may become obstacles. Key Takeaway Recognize when strengths become hindrances. Themes self‑awareness conflict human nature Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - career decisions - personal relationships - leadership challenges Key Concepts psychology identity self‑sabotage Questions to Reflect On - How do your strengths limit you? - When have you felt your virtues were a burden? A Different Perspective Strengths can backfire if not balanced with humility. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Episodes Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/episodes-men-5457036/) [Greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) [Highest Qualities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/highest-qualities-2877208/) [Men Lives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men-lives-758192/) [Objects Inward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/objects-inward-5457037/) [Qualities Cast](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/qualities-cast-5457038/) ## Related quotes > [The highest qualities of character...must be earned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/the-highest-qualities-of-character-must-be-earned/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [We often pray for purity, unselfishness, for the highest qualities of character, and forget that these things cannot be given, but must be earned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/we-often-pray-for-purity-unselfishness-for-the-highest-qualities-of/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [Love is the highest of all qualities we can experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/love-is-the-highest-of-all-qualities-we-can-experience/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [“I, an old man, have written this fire report. Among other things, it was important to me, as an exercise for old age, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-maclean/i-an-old-man-have-written-this-fire-report-among-other-things-it-was/) [Norman Maclean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-maclean/) > [It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not pay with their own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/it-is-not-reasonable-that-those-who-gamble-with-men-s-lives-should/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [It 's no fish ye 're buying, it 's men's lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-scott/it-s-no-fish-ye-re-buying-it-s-men-s-lives/) [Walter Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-scott/) > [There is a history in all men's lives, Figuring the nature of the times deceased, The which observed, a man may prophesy, With a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/there-is-a-history-in-all-men-s-lives-figuring-the-nature-of-the/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [“I often wondered why men will risk almost certain death in an attempt to save other men. I decided it was because men will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-hull/i-often-wondered-why-men-will-risk-almost-certain-death-in-an-attempt/) [Jonathan Hull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-hull/) > [Children need adult men in their lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-yoffe/children-need-adult-men-in-their-lives/) [Emily Yoffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-yoffe/) > [“In an instant's compass, great hearts sometimes condense to one deep pang, the sum total of those shallow pains kindly diffused through feebler men's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/in-an-instant-s-compass-great-hearts-sometimes-condense-to-one-deep/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [The good that men do lives after them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-gordon/the-good-that-men-do-lives-after-them/) [Ruth Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-gordon/) > [Men may yearn for peace, cry for peace, and work for peace, but there will be no peace until they follow the path pointed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-o-mckay/men-may-yearn-for-peace-cry-for-peace-and-work-for-peace-but-there/) [David O. McKay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-o-mckay/) > [How do men feel whose whole lives (and many men's lives are) are lies, schemes, and subterfuges? What sort of company do they keep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-makepeace-thackeray/how-do-men-feel-whose-whole-lives-and-many-men-s-lives-are-are-lies/) [William Makepeace Thackeray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-makepeace-thackeray/) > [Men's lives have meaning, not their deaths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/men-s-lives-have-meaning-not-their-deaths/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The scriptures record remarkable accounts of men whose lives changed dramatically, in an instant, as it were: Alma the Younger, Paul on the road…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-taft-benson/the-scriptures-record-remarkable-accounts-of-men-whose-lives-changed/) [Ezra Taft Benson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-taft-benson/) ## 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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitney-gaskell/) [Browse all 7,631 Greatness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“There are episodes in most men's lives in which their highest qualities can only cast a deterring shadow over the objects that fill their inward version.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Eliot" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-episodes-in-most-men-s-lives-in-which-their-highest/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Greatness" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-episodes-in-most-men-s-lives-in-which-their-highest/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/george-eliot-84_greatness_there-are-episodes-in-most-men-s-lives-i_3116405.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/george-eliot-84_greatness_there-are-episodes-in-most-men-s-lives-i_3116405.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8d/george-eliot-84_greatness_there-are-episodes-in-most-men-s-lives-i_3116405.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There are episodes in most men's lives in which their highest qualities can only cast a deterring shadow…” — 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": "“There are episodes in most men's...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-episodes-in-most-men-s-lives-in-which-their-highest/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-episodes-in-most-men-s-lives-in-which-their-highest/#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 } } ] } ```