--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You should read history and look at…" description: "\"You should read history and look at ostracism, persecution, martyrdom, and that kind of thing. They always happen to the best men, you know.\" — George ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdf/george-eliot-84_history_you-should-read-history-and-look-at-ostr_1461762.png" --- # You should read history and look at ostracism… ![“You should read history and look at ostracism, persecution, martyrdom, and that kind of thing. They always happen to the best men, you know.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdf/george-eliot-84_history_you-should-read-history-and-look-at-ostr_1461762.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdf/george-eliot-84_history_you-should-read-history-and-look-at-ostr_1461762.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdf/george-eliot-84_history_you-should-read-history-and-look-at-ostr_1461762.png) > “You should read history and look at ostracism, persecution, martyrdom, and that kind of thing. They always happen to the best men, you know.” [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 author suggests studying past injustices to understand that even virtuous individuals can become victims of societal oppression. **In simple terms:** History shows good people can be persecuted. Key Takeaway Learn from past persecutions to protect the vulnerable. Themes history persecution martyrdom justice Mood reflective serious Type educational philosophical When to use this quote - education - policy making - community support Key Concepts social dynamics power structures human rights Questions to Reflect On - What lessons from past persecutions are relevant today? - How can we protect those targeted by oppression? A Different Perspective Not all historical parallels are directly applicable to modern individuals. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Best Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/best-men/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind/) [Martyrdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/martyrdom/) [Martyrdom Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/martyrdom-kind-5282406/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Ostracism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ostracism/) [Ostracism Persecution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ostracism-persecution-5282405/) [Persecution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persecution/) [Persecution Martyrdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persecution-martyrdom-5282407/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) ## Related quotes > [...I swore I would battle not only for myself but for freedom and opportunity for everything living that wore chains, especially sex chains. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rheta-childe-dorr/i-swore-i-would-battle-not-only-for-myself-but-for-freedom-and/) [Rheta Childe Dorr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rheta-childe-dorr/) > [Art is fueled by rebellion: the need, in some amounting to obsessions, to resist what is, to defy one's elders, even to the point…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/art-is-fueled-by-rebellion-the-need-in-some-amounting-to-obsessions/) [Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/) > [“Even in the mid-1990s geeks were fair game. One afternoon a colleague and I were standing on either side of one of the narrow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emanuel-derman/even-in-the-mid-1990s-geeks-were-fair-game-one-afternoon-a-colleague/) [Emanuel Derman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emanuel-derman/) > [But then why is it so terrible for me to be with the girl I love? Everyone one is permitted to have what they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tabitha-suzuma/but-then-why-is-it-so-terrible-for-me-to-be-with-the-girl-i-love/) [Tabitha Suzuma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tabitha-suzuma/) > [I was concerned that if I came out of the closet, that at best, I would face ostracism, and at worst, face violence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritchie-torres/i-was-concerned-that-if-i-came-out-of-the-closet-that-at-best-i-would/) [Ritchie Torres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritchie-torres/) > [“The world needs someone they can admire from a distance; from a very far distance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/the-world-needs-someone-they-can-admire-from-a-distance-from-a-very/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [The world in which we live would benefit greatly if men and women everywhere would exercise the pure love of Christ, which is kind,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-w-hunter/the-world-in-which-we-live-would-benefit-greatly-if-men-and-women/) [Howard W. Hunter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-w-hunter/) > [Ostracism means you don't exist at all. And that's a very difficult situation to live with. As gay people, we had been chasing ostracism…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-hay/ostracism-means-you-don-t-exist-at-all-and-that-s-a-very-difficult/) [Harry Hay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-hay/) > [Nowadays, you suffer the same risks - ostracism, career loss, possible assault - for being perceived as racist that you would have encountered a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-goad/nowadays-you-suffer-the-same-risks-ostracism-career-loss-possible/) [Jim Goad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-goad/) > [Poverty is relative, and the lack of food and of the necessities of life is not necessarily a hardship. Spiritual and social ostracism, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-foote-macdougall/poverty-is-relative-and-the-lack-of-food-and-of-the-necessities-of/) [Alice Foote MacDougall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-foote-macdougall/) > [For there are two possible reactions to social ostracism - either a man emerges determined to be better, purer, and kindlier or he goes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/for-there-are-two-possible-reactions-to-social-ostracism-either-a-man/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [The rich, the well-born, and the able, acquire an influence among the people that will soon be too much for simple honesty and plain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-adams/the-rich-the-well-born-and-the-able-acquire-an-influence-among-the/) [John Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-adams/) > [I know as actors our job is usually to shed our skins, but I think as people our job is to become who we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felicity-huffman/i-know-as-actors-our-job-is-usually-to-shed-our-skins-but-i-think-as/) [Felicity Huffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felicity-huffman/) > [The very same brain centers that interpret and feel physical pain also become activated during experiences of emotional rejection. In brain scans, they light…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/the-very-same-brain-centers-that-interpret-and-feel-physical-pain/) [Gabor Mate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/) > [“This exile is a fascinating symbolic act from our modern psychoanalytic viewpoint, for we have held in earlier chapters that the greatest threat and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rollo-may/this-exile-is-a-fascinating-symbolic-act-from-our-modern/) [Rollo May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rollo-may/) ## 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 History quotes > [Histories never conclude; they just pause their prose. Their stories are, if they are truthful, untidy affairs, resistant to windings-up and sortings-out. They beat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/histories-never-conclude-they-just-pause-their-prose-their-stories/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [It is said that history turns on small hinges. A human career, too, results from an accumulating series of decisions about large and small…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-vincent-peale/it-is-said-that-history-turns-on-small-hinges-a-human-career-too/) [Norman Vincent Peale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-vincent-peale/) > [The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-history-of-mankind-interests-us-only-as-it-exhibits-a-steady-gain/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another day just like today, and there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-buechner/in-the-entire-history-of-the-universe-let-alone-in-your-own-history/) [Frederick Buechner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-buechner/) > [The NBA is my history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penny-hardaway/the-nba-is-my-history/) [Penny Hardaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penny-hardaway/) > [History has often showed us the strength of the forces that are unleashed by the yearning for freedom. It moved people to overcome their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-merkel/history-has-often-showed-us-the-strength-of-the-forces-that-are/) [Angela Merkel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-merkel/) > [We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/we-find-few-historians-who-have-been-diligent-enough-in-their-search/) [John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/) > [What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-is-history-after-all-history-is-facts-which-become-lies-in-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Things live and die, and then someone processes them into edible portions. This is a complete telling of the story, 'Food.' The basic plot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-fahrenthold/things-live-and-die-and-then-someone-processes-them-into-edible/) [David Fahrenthold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-fahrenthold/) > [History is a certain way, but you just change the point of view a little bit, and you discover a whole new side of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allison-schroeder/history-is-a-certain-way-but-you-just-change-the-point-of-view-a/) [Allison Schroeder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allison-schroeder/) > [We're at a point in history were we have to become a part of the neighborhood of inhabited planets, like a neighborhood of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-mitchell/we-re-at-a-point-in-history-were-we-have-to-become-a-part-of-the/) [Edgar Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-mitchell/) > [Today is a reality, tomorrow's a promise, and yesterday's history!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-blanks/today-is-a-reality-tomorrow-s-a-promise-and-yesterday-s-history/) [Billy Blanks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-blanks/) > [Truth be told from compulsive liars with a history/Everything must change 2nd chances are a mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-dash/truth-be-told-from-compulsive-liars-with-a-history-everything-must/) [C-DASH](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-dash/) > [Every army in the history of the world has always had some deserters, usually much greater than we have today, because once again every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-hilferty/every-army-in-the-history-of-the-world-has-always-had-some-deserters/) [Bryan Hilferty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-hilferty/) > [“To those great geniuses now in petticoats, who shall write novels for the beloved reader's children, these men and things will be as much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-makepeace-thackeray/to-those-great-geniuses-now-in-petticoats-who-shall-write-novels-for/) [William Makepeace Thackeray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-makepeace-thackeray/) [Browse all 27,263 History quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "You should read history and look at ostracism, persecution, martyrdom, and that kind of thing. They always happen to the best men, you know.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Eliot" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/you-should-read-history-and-look-at-ostracism-persecution-martyrdom/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "History" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/you-should-read-history-and-look-at-ostracism-persecution-martyrdom/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdf/george-eliot-84_history_you-should-read-history-and-look-at-ostr_1461762.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdf/george-eliot-84_history_you-should-read-history-and-look-at-ostr_1461762.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdf/george-eliot-84_history_you-should-read-history-and-look-at-ostr_1461762.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You should read history and look at ostracism, persecution, martyrdom, and that kind of thing. They always…” — 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": "You should read history and look...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/you-should-read-history-and-look-at-ostracism-persecution-martyrdom/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/you-should-read-history-and-look-at-ostracism-persecution-martyrdom/#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 } } ] } ```