George Eliot, The Spanish Gypsy (1868), Book III.
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The tread Of coming footsteps cheats the midnight watcher Who holds her heart and waits to hear them pause, And hears them never pause, but pass and die.

— George Eliot on Footsteps

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The tread Of coming footsteps cheats the midnight watcher Who holds her heart and waits to hear them pause, And hears them never pause, but pass and die." in the context of "George Eliot, The Spanish Gypsy (1868), Book III." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Footsteps" (Quotes, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations: Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 286.) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
George Eliot

About George Eliot

George Eliot (born Mary Ann Evans; 22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880) was an English novelist and poet. Despite the strong social customs of her times against such arrangements, she lived unmarried with fellow writer George Henry Lewesβ€Žβ€Ž for over 20 years.