“ We can’t choose happiness either for ourselves or for another ”
George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (1860). copy citation
| Author | George Eliot |
|---|---|
| Source | The Mill on the Floss |
| Topic | happiness |
| Date | 1860 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6688/6688-h/6688-h.htm |
Context
“A great terror was upon her, as if she were ever and anon seeing where she stood by great flashes of lightning, and then again stretched forth her hands in the darkness.
“No, I don’t sacrifice you—I couldn’t sacrifice you,” she said, as soon as she could speak again; “but I can’t believe in a good for you, that I feel, that we both feel, is a wrong toward others. We can’t choose happiness either for ourselves or for another; we can’t tell where that will lie. We can only choose whether we will indulge ourselves in the present moment, or whether we will renounce that, for the sake of obeying the divine voice within us,—for the sake of being true to all the motives that sanctify our lives.”
source
