It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.

The remark condemns intellectual rigidity: a “narrow mind” is one that cannot imaginatively shift perspective, entertain competing interpretations, or grant that a question may look different depending on one’s position and experience. Implicitly, Eliot links breadth of mind with moral and social intelligence—an ability to understand others by seeing how circumstances shape belief. The line also gestures toward a disciplined form of sympathy: not mere tolerance, but the active effort to view a subject from multiple angles before judging. In Eliot’s broader ethical vision, such perspectival flexibility is a prerequisite for fairness, humility, and mature reasoning.