--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is no sorrow I have thought about…" description: "\"“There is no sorrow I have thought about more than that - to love what is great, and try to reach it, and yet to fail.”\" — George Eliot" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/george-eliot-84_grief_there-is-no-sorrow-i-have-thought-about_1012053.png" --- # There is no sorrow I have thought about more than that… ![“There is no sorrow I have thought about more than that - to love what is great, and try to reach it, and yet to fail.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/george-eliot-84_grief_there-is-no-sorrow-i-have-thought-about_1012053.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/george-eliot-84_grief_there-is-no-sorrow-i-have-thought-about_1012053.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/george-eliot-84_grief_there-is-no-sorrow-i-have-thought-about_1012053.png) > ““There is no sorrow I have thought about more than that - to love what is great, and try to reach it, and yet to fail.”” [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. The pain of aspiring to greatness and failing is deeper than ordinary sorrow. **In simple terms:** Failing at great love hurts most. Key Takeaway Accept limits, cherish effort. Themes ambition love failure greatness Mood melancholic reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - Artistic creation - personal relationships - career aspirations Key Concepts Existential yearning human limitation Questions to Reflect On - What does “great” mean to you? - How can you find value in effort alone? A Different Perspective Great aspirations can cause profound disappointment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Grief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grief/) [Sorrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sorrow/) [Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thought/) ## Related quotes > [There is no sorrow I have thought more about than that-to love what is great, and try to reach it, and yet to fail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-is-no-sorrow-i-have-thought-more-about-than-that-to-love-what/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“In the country whereto I go I shall not see the face of my friend Nor her hair the color of sunburnt grasses; Together…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-bogan/in-the-country-whereto-i-go-i-shall-not-see-the-face-of-my-friend-nor/) [Louise Bogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-bogan/) > [It's funny, how one can look back on a sorrow one thought one might well die of at the time, and know that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacqueline-carey/it-s-funny-how-one-can-look-back-on-a-sorrow-one-thought-one-might/) [Jacqueline Carey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacqueline-carey/) > [“When the child must be weaned, the mother too is not without sorrow at the thought that she and the child are separated more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soren-kierkegaard/when-the-child-must-be-weaned-the-mother-too-is-not-without-sorrow-at/) [Soren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soren-kierkegaard/) > [Ah sorrow, I thought I was done with it for good about a year ago. but now I can tell its all just begun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/ah-sorrow-i-thought-i-was-done-with-it-for-good-about-a-year-ago-but/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The deepest sorrow, he thought. Where the only way to survive is to excavate everything.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ondaatje/the-deepest-sorrow-he-thought-where-the-only-way-to-survive-is-to/) [Michael Ondaatje](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ondaatje/) > [Sometimes we think of the nations lying asleep, Curled blindly in impenetrable sorrow, And then the thought confounds us with its strangeness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-muir/sometimes-we-think-of-the-nations-lying-asleep-curled-blindly-in/) [Edwin Muir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-muir/) > [“We kept walking, our shadows moving in shifting blobs over the ground. The sound of river rocks rattled under our feet. We turned along…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-kept-walking-our-shadows-moving-in-shifting-blobs-over-the-ground/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow, I had not a thought concealed from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-austen/she-was-the-sun-of-my-life-the-gilder-of-every-pleasure-the-soother/) Cassandra Austen > [“You pushed me down to the depths of my sorrow until I thought I wouldn’t see the light of day again. You expected me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kayla-krantz/you-pushed-me-down-to-the-depths-of-my-sorrow-until-i-thought-i/) [Kayla Krantz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kayla-krantz/) > [Put love first. Entertain thoughts that give life. And when a thought or resentment, or hurt, or fear comes your way, have another thought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-manin-morrissey/put-love-first-entertain-thoughts-that-give-life-and-when-a-thought/) [Mary Manin Morrissey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-manin-morrissey/) > [“There is something sustaining in the very agitation that accompanies the first shocks of trouble, just as an acute pain is often a stimulus,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-is-something-sustaining-in-the-very-agitation-that-accompanies/) [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/) > [Short time seems long in sorrow's sharp sustaining.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/short-time-seems-long-in-sorrow-s-sharp-sustaining/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [You felt a deep sorrow, the kind of melancholy you feel when you're in a beautiful place and the sun is going down](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thrity-umrigar/you-felt-a-deep-sorrow-the-kind-of-melancholy-you-feel-when-you-re-in/) [Thrity Umrigar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thrity-umrigar/) ## 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 Grief quotes > [“...they had lived, they'd lived intensely. But no matter how deeply you live, it comes to this in the end: one of you will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-morton/they-had-lived-they-d-lived-intensely-but-no-matter-how-deeply-you/) [Brian Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-morton/) > [“You must understand the pain and grief of losing someone is nothing more than a function of survival.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-cooper/you-must-understand-the-pain-and-grief-of-losing-someone-is-nothing/) [Steven Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-cooper/) > [You felt a deep sorrow, the kind of melancholy you feel when you're in a beautiful place and the sun is going down](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thrity-umrigar/you-felt-a-deep-sorrow-the-kind-of-melancholy-you-feel-when-you-re-in/) [Thrity Umrigar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thrity-umrigar/) > [... how much of our inner substance is it good for us to give to public griefs? The whole modern tendency to agonize over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-bogan/how-much-of-our-inner-substance-is-it-good-for-us-to-give-to-public/) [Louise Bogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-bogan/) > [You dont choose your life; it chooses you. Theres no point asking why life has reserved certain joys or griefs, you just accept them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/you-dont-choose-your-life-it-chooses-you-theres-no-point-asking-why/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [“When we learn to attribute meaning to the events in our lives, we connect with our Higher Purpose, Higher Wisdom, or Source; we become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-barbara-apollon/when-we-learn-to-attribute-meaning-to-the-events-in-our-lives-we/) [Susan Barbara Apollon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-barbara-apollon/) > [Only to have a grief equal to all these tears!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/only-to-have-a-grief-equal-to-all-these-tears/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [Nowadays most people wear black most of the time anyway: go to a literary party and one would imagine everyone there was in perpetual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/nowadays-most-people-wear-black-most-of-the-time-anyway-go-to-a/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [Suppressed grief suffocates, it rages within the breast, and is forced to multiply its strength.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/suppressed-grief-suffocates-it-rages-within-the-breast-and-is-forced/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [That Woman is in love with her own grief.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabrielle-zevin/that-woman-is-in-love-with-her-own-grief/) [Gabrielle Zevin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabrielle-zevin/) > [Short time seems long in sorrow's sharp sustaining.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/short-time-seems-long-in-sorrow-s-sharp-sustaining/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [These days grief seems like walking on a frozen river; most of the time he feels safe enough, but there is always that danger…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-nicholls/these-days-grief-seems-like-walking-on-a-frozen-river-most-of-the/) [David Nicholls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-nicholls/) > [“You've been my beacon of light in my storm of grief, and I don't know if I could live without you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-ashley/you-ve-been-my-beacon-of-light-in-my-storm-of-grief-and-i-don-t-know/) [Katie Ashley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katie-ashley/) > [Ancient eyes had stared at me, filled with ancient grief. And something more. Something so alien and unexpected that I'd almost burst into tears.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-marie-moning/ancient-eyes-had-stared-at-me-filled-with-ancient-grief-and-something/) [Karen Marie Moning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-marie-moning/) > [Meanwhile, the trees were just as green as before; the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever. The familiar surroundings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/meanwhile-the-trees-were-just-as-green-as-before-the-birds-sang-and/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) [Browse all 8,012 Grief quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grief/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“There is no sorrow I have thought about more than that - to love what is great, and try to reach it, and yet to fail.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Eliot" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-is-no-sorrow-i-have-thought-about-more-than-that-to-love-what/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Grief" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-is-no-sorrow-i-have-thought-about-more-than-that-to-love-what/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/george-eliot-84_grief_there-is-no-sorrow-i-have-thought-about_1012053.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/george-eliot-84_grief_there-is-no-sorrow-i-have-thought-about_1012053.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/george-eliot-84_grief_there-is-no-sorrow-i-have-thought-about_1012053.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is no sorrow I have thought about more than that - to love what is great, and try to reach it, and yet…” — 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 is no sorrow I have...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-is-no-sorrow-i-have-thought-about-more-than-that-to-love-what/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-is-no-sorrow-i-have-thought-about-more-than-that-to-love-what/#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 } } ] } ```