The Essays of 'George Eliot' (ed. Nathan Sheppard, 1883; includes 'Silly Novels by Lady Novelists' and 'The Natural History of German Life', Westminster Review, 1856)writing · 1856 (collected 1883)DirectVerified quotation — claim 01“The greatest benefit we owe to the artist, whether painter, poet, or novelist, is the extension of our sympathies.” — George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)Verified quotation — claim 01“Art is the nearest thing to life; it is a mode of amplifying experience and extending our contact with our fellow-men beyond the bounds of our personal lot.” — George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
Sources supporting claim 01
George Eliot's Life, as Related in Her Letters and Journals, Vol. 2 (arr. J. W. Cross; letters to Charles Bray, 5 July 1859, and Madame Bodichon, 26 Dec. 1860)letter · 1859–1860 (published 1885)DirectVerified quotation — claim 01“If art does not enlarge men's sympathies, it does nothing morally. I have had heart-cutting experience that opinions are a poor cement between human souls: and the only effect I ardently long to produce by my writings is, that those who read them should be better able to imagine and to feel the pains and the joys of those who differ from themselves in everything but the broad fact of being struggling, erring, human creatures.” — George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Lifewriting · 1871–1872DirectNo passage is mapped to this claim. Sources are listed for provenance; a quotation appears only when it has been verified for the specific claim.