--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When we get to wishing a great deal for…" description: "\"When we get to wishing a great deal for ourselves, whatever we get soon turns into mere limitation and exclusion.\" — George Eliot" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/george-eliot-84_exclusion_when-we-get-to-wishing-a-great-deal-for_38527.png" --- # When we get to wishing a great deal for ourselves… ![“When we get to wishing a great deal for ourselves, whatever we get soon turns into mere limitation and exclusion.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/george-eliot-84_exclusion_when-we-get-to-wishing-a-great-deal-for_38527.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/george-eliot-84_exclusion_when-we-get-to-wishing-a-great-deal-for_38527.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/george-eliot-84_exclusion_when-we-get-to-wishing-a-great-deal-for_38527.png) > “When we get to wishing a great deal for ourselves, whatever we get soon turns into mere limitation and exclusion.” [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. Desires for abundant outcomes often become self‑imposed limits, narrowing possibilities and creating exclusionary mindsets. **In simple terms:** Wanting too much can restrict us. Key Takeaway Excessive wish‑fulfillment can backfire. Themes desire limitation exclusion psychology self‑sabotage Mood reflective cautious Type philosophical advice When to use this quote - career planning - personal goal setting - relationship expectations - financial budgeting - creative projects Key Concepts mindset expectations self‑fulfilling prophecy Practical Applications - mindfulness coaching - goal‑setting workshops Questions to Reflect On - How might moderating expectations expand options? - What habits reinforce limiting beliefs? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Limitation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/limitation/) [Negotiation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/negotiation/) ## Related quotes > [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/) > [The essence of worldliness is exclusion of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-jacobsen/the-essence-of-worldliness-is-exclusion-of-god/) [Henry Jacobsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-jacobsen/) > [One of the dreams of Zionism was to be a bridge. Instead, we are creating exclusion between the East and the West instead of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-b-yehoshua/one-of-the-dreams-of-zionism-was-to-be-a-bridge-instead-we-are/) [A. B. Yehoshua](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-b-yehoshua/) > [You do not invite experience with your 'yes' and exclude it with your 'no'. There is no exclusion in this attraction-based Universe. Your focus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-hicks/you-do-not-invite-experience-with-your-yes-and-exclude-it-with-your/) [Esther Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-hicks/) > [There are "extremists" in the free software world, but that's one major reason why I don't call what I do "free software" any more.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linus-torvalds/there-are-extremists-in-the-free-software-world-but-that-s-one-major/) [Linus Torvalds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linus-torvalds/) > [But, in the name of the experimental method and out of our poor knowledge, are we really entitled to claim that everything happens by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-claude/but-in-the-name-of-the-experimental-method-and-out-of-our-poor/) [Albert Claude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-claude/) > [“All forms of consensus are by necessity based on acts of exclusion”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chantal-mouffe/all-forms-of-consensus-are-by-necessity-based-on-acts-of-exclusion/) Chantal Mouffe > [We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the disasters. The alcohol. We committed the murders. We took…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-keating/we-took-the-traditional-lands-and-smashed-the-traditional-way-of-life/) [Paul Keating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-keating/) > [Any truth, no matter how valid, if emphasized to the exclusion of other truths of equal importance, is practical error.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathryn-kuhlman/any-truth-no-matter-how-valid-if-emphasized-to-the-exclusion-of-other/) [Kathryn Kuhlman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathryn-kuhlman/) > [Let a man neither give himself over to pleasures ... nor yet let him give himself over to self-mortification ... To the exclusion of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/let-a-man-neither-give-himself-over-to-pleasures-nor-yet-let-him-give/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) > [When love doesn't work, we hurt. Indeed, “hurt feelings” is a precisely accurate phrase, according to psychologist Naomi Eisenberger of the University of California.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-johnson/when-love-doesn-t-work-we-hurt-indeed-hurt-feelings-is-a-precisely/) [Sue Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-johnson/) > [We had 90 percent rates, but nobody paid them. And so you had all these exemptions, exclusions, shelters, all this kind of stuff. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-santorum/we-had-90-percent-rates-but-nobody-paid-them-and-so-you-had-all-these/) [Rick Santorum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-santorum/) > [ \[I\]f in other sciences we should arrive at certainty without doubt and truth without error, it behooves us to place the foundations of knowledge… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-bacon/i-f-in-other-sciences-we-should-arrive-at-certainty-without-doubt-and/) [Roger Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-bacon/) > [The ultimate goal of radical politics is gradually to displace the limit of social exclusions, empowering the excluded agents (sexual and ethnic minorities) by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/the-ultimate-goal-of-radical-politics-is-gradually-to-displace-the/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [The purpose of affirmative action is to give our nation a way to finally address the systemic exclusion of individuals of talent on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-clinton/the-purpose-of-affirmative-action-is-to-give-our-nation-a-way-to/) [William J. Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-j-clinton/) ## 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 Exclusion quotes > [The essence of worldliness is exclusion of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-jacobsen/the-essence-of-worldliness-is-exclusion-of-god/) [Henry Jacobsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-jacobsen/) > [The ultimate goal of radical politics is gradually to displace the limit of social exclusions, empowering the excluded agents (sexual and ethnic minorities) by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/the-ultimate-goal-of-radical-politics-is-gradually-to-displace-the/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [ \[I\]f in other sciences we should arrive at certainty without doubt and truth without error, it behooves us to place the foundations of knowledge… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-bacon/i-f-in-other-sciences-we-should-arrive-at-certainty-without-doubt-and/) [Roger Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-bacon/) > [We had 90 percent rates, but nobody paid them. And so you had all these exemptions, exclusions, shelters, all this kind of stuff. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-santorum/we-had-90-percent-rates-but-nobody-paid-them-and-so-you-had-all-these/) [Rick Santorum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-santorum/) > [When love doesn't work, we hurt. Indeed, “hurt feelings” is a precisely accurate phrase, according to psychologist Naomi Eisenberger of the University of California.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-johnson/when-love-doesn-t-work-we-hurt-indeed-hurt-feelings-is-a-precisely/) [Sue Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-johnson/) > [Let a man neither give himself over to pleasures ... nor yet let him give himself over to self-mortification ... To the exclusion of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/let-a-man-neither-give-himself-over-to-pleasures-nor-yet-let-him-give/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) > [Any truth, no matter how valid, if emphasized to the exclusion of other truths of equal importance, is practical error.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathryn-kuhlman/any-truth-no-matter-how-valid-if-emphasized-to-the-exclusion-of-other/) [Kathryn Kuhlman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathryn-kuhlman/) > [We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the disasters. The alcohol. We committed the murders. We took…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-keating/we-took-the-traditional-lands-and-smashed-the-traditional-way-of-life/) [Paul Keating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-keating/) > [“All forms of consensus are by necessity based on acts of exclusion”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chantal-mouffe/all-forms-of-consensus-are-by-necessity-based-on-acts-of-exclusion/) Chantal Mouffe > [But, in the name of the experimental method and out of our poor knowledge, are we really entitled to claim that everything happens by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-claude/but-in-the-name-of-the-experimental-method-and-out-of-our-poor/) [Albert Claude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-claude/) > [There are "extremists" in the free software world, but that's one major reason why I don't call what I do "free software" any more.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linus-torvalds/there-are-extremists-in-the-free-software-world-but-that-s-one-major/) [Linus Torvalds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linus-torvalds/) > [You do not invite experience with your 'yes' and exclude it with your 'no'. There is no exclusion in this attraction-based Universe. Your focus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-hicks/you-do-not-invite-experience-with-your-yes-and-exclude-it-with-your/) [Esther Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-hicks/) > [One of the dreams of Zionism was to be a bridge. Instead, we are creating exclusion between the East and the West instead of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-b-yehoshua/one-of-the-dreams-of-zionism-was-to-be-a-bridge-instead-we-are/) [A. B. Yehoshua](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-b-yehoshua/) > [The purpose of affirmative action is to give our nation a way to finally address the systemic exclusion of individuals of talent on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-clinton/the-purpose-of-affirmative-action-is-to-give-our-nation-a-way-to/) [William J. Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-j-clinton/) > [...it is not only the general principles of justice that are infringed, or at least set aside, by the exclusion of women, merely as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stuart-mill/it-is-not-only-the-general-principles-of-justice-that-are-infringed/) [John Stuart Mill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stuart-mill/) Browse all 291 Exclusion quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When we get to wishing a great deal for ourselves, whatever we get soon turns into mere limitation and exclusion.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Eliot" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/when-we-get-to-wishing-a-great-deal-for-ourselves-whatever-we-get/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Exclusion" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/when-we-get-to-wishing-a-great-deal-for-ourselves-whatever-we-get/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/george-eliot-84_exclusion_when-we-get-to-wishing-a-great-deal-for_38527.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/george-eliot-84_exclusion_when-we-get-to-wishing-a-great-deal-for_38527.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/805/george-eliot-84_exclusion_when-we-get-to-wishing-a-great-deal-for_38527.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When we get to wishing a great deal for ourselves, whatever we get soon turns into mere limitation and…” — 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": "When we get to wishing a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/when-we-get-to-wishing-a-great-deal-for-ourselves-whatever-we-get/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/when-we-get-to-wishing-a-great-deal-for-ourselves-whatever-we-get/#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 } } ] } ```