Quotes by : Lionel Trilling

Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal.

consistent affection for his characters is what sets Tolstoy apart. Flaubert is equally “objective,”....

In the most secret heart of every intellectual ... there lies hidden ... the hope of power, the desire....

What marks the artist is his power to shape the material of pain we all have.

It is now life and not art that requires the willing suspension of disbelief.

The poet may be used as a barometer, but let us not forget that he is also part of the weather.

We who are liberal and progressive know that the poor are our equals in every sense except that of being....

Literature is the human activity that takes the fullest and most precise account of variousness, possibility,....

Probably it is impossible for humor to be ever a revolutionary weapon. Candide can do little more than....

The function of literature, through all its mutations, has been to make us aware of the particularity....