A sour view of social life from George Eliot. For me this is one of Eliot's most uncomfortable quotes, almost impossible to read through without thinking of real people one knows or once knew.
The beings closest to us, whether in love or hate, are often
virtually our interpreters of the world, and some feather-headed gentleman or
lady whom in passing we regret to take as legal tender for a human being, may
be acting as a melancholy theory of life in the minds of those who live with
them – like a piece of yellow and wavy glass that distorts form and makes
colour an affliction. Their trivial sentences, their petty standards, their low
suspicions, their loveless ennui, may be making somebody else’s life no better
than a promenade through a pantheon of ugly idols.
George Eliot – Daniel Deronda.
4 comments:
Eliot lived in simpler times; these days, the same would apply to a variety of social and news media as well, amplifying the distortion to overwhelming proportions.
In passing, I think 'a pantheon of ugly idols' is as perfect a description of the Mail Online's sidebar as you'll ever find.
(w/v graybro - rather appropriately for the mood of this post)
M - yes, including the BBC. Don't understand "w/v graybro" though.
I've spent far too long in conversation with my 18-year-old son;
"You is way too grey, bro' - lighten up!"
M - ah I see - I was born grey.
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