George Eliot
I stumbled upon the line, "It's never too late to be what you might have been," sometime in college. And immediately fell in love with it. I wrote it everywhere. In every class. On every notebook and binder. I even smacked it into my Instagram bio, and it's been there ever since.
A friend of mine started following me recently, and asked me if I was a fan of George Eliot...
"Uuuhhhmm, huh?" I muttered.
"George Eliot...," they explained again, like I should know.
I sat dumbfounded.
"The writer in your Insta bio...." they hesitated.
The truth is, I didn't know who wrote it. I had no idea G.E. were the initials for George Eliot. Or that George Eliot was a pen name for a Victorian novelist named Mary Ann Evans. I knew nothing about the line. I felt silly. Stupid. So I went home and immediately (aka: shamefully) did my research.
I learned that this quote - that has inspired me for years of my life - doesn't truly have an origin. Many people think it dates back to Eliot, even though there's no actual proof of the line in her writing. Others attest it was written by a woman named Adelaide Anne Procter, but the line she wrote says, "We always may be what we might have been" - which in my opinion, says something entirely different.
After many nights spent searching for its author, I've finally given up. Because I realized it doesn't matter who said it, or who wrote it.
It simply matters that it was said. That it was written.
It matters that it was put down on paper, and my two eyes fell upon it. It matters that it mattered to me. And still does.
This whole situation has been unexpectedly humbling for me as a writer. To realize that it's not about who I am, or my name, or my identity. It's not about me. It's about what I write, what I say, what I give, how I make people feel... that's what lasts. That's what people will remember. That's all that matters.
And maybe, just maybe, 200 years from now,
some girl will stumble upon something I wrote.
And not have any idea that I wrote it.
And still love it anyway.