Faithful hidden lives

Her finely touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible. Her full nature, like that river of which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs. - George Eliot, Middlemarch, last paragraph (Project Gutenberg post of the book, which is public domain.)

Romans 2:5b God; 6 who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:” 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; (World English Bible, public domain.) (See here for ESV version of this passage.)

I don't know if Eliot (aka Mary Anne Evans) had the Romans passage in mind when she finished Middlemarch, but her description, of a faithful hidden life, matches Paul's description of a quiet, patient life.

Thanks for reading.