With a touch both loving and wise, George Eliot wrote of many things. But it is her unique insight into human character for which she is valued above all. When reading any one of her great literary masterpieces, the reader is arrested from time to time by some sentence, metaphor or paragraph which sheds astonishing new light on a part of ourselves, the world, or the human condition. We stop, reread it, ponder on its genius and beauty. It is these gems which have been gathered from the great breadth of Eliot's work and are here presented in one concise book. Words on love, marriage, friendship, life, character, virtue, and many more topics, fill these pages. Few will close it without picking up some new pearls to add to their store.