“After all, people may really have in them some vocation which is not quite plain to themselves, may they not? They may seem idle and weak because they are growing. We should be very patient with each other, I think.”

Mary Ann Evans, a Victorian English novelist and critic, wrote under the male pseudonym George Eliot. She is best known for her psychologically nuanced novels exploring human complexity, particularly *Middlemarch* and *Adam Bede*. Her work remains influential for its realistic portrayal of rural and social life.