I think my life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face: it was so near to me, and her arms were round me, and she sang to me.

More from Daniel Deronda

• A difference of tastes in jokes is a great strain on the affections.
• Men’s men: gentle or simple, they’re much of a muchness.
• The mother’s yearning, that completest type of the life in another life which is the essence of real human love, feels the presence of the cherished child even in the debased, degraded man.
• A cruel story runs on wheels, and every hand oils the wheels as they run.
• A different taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.
• An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.