Lionel Trilling Quotes

We are at heart so profoundly anarchistic that the only form of state we can imagine living in is Utopian; and so cynical that the only Utopia we can believe in is authoritarian.

Lionel Trilling

• Believe
• Heart

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Quotes to Explore

• I'm saying that an editorial process that is preparing the material for publication counts as part of the inspiring process whereby God, in his sovereignty, gave every word.

  

  J. I. Packer
  • God
  • Process
  • Saying

• Memorial services are the cocktail parties of the geriatric set.

  

  Harold MacMillan
  • Memorial
  • Parties
  • Cocktail

• I'm a computer scientist by training. I'm also the author of three books, all of which endorse the use of biotechnology to improve the human condition. In the most recent of these, 'The Infinite Resource,' I talk about the power of innovation to save the world.

  

  Ramez Naam
  • World
  • Power
  • Training

• A feeling of alienation existed in India about life in Pakistan because most of what was known was negative. So, everyone used to believe things in our country are always bad, and we don't lead a happy life. But this has changed to some extent. After watching our dramas, people now know that we lead our lives similar to the way they live.

  

  Umera Ahmad
  • People
  • Life
  • Believe

• My advice would be to follow your dream. Most of my life, I was in second place before I came in first place. I hope that inspired people to never give up.

  

  Jackie Evancho
  • People
  • Life
  • Up

• So long as the Zulu people are here, clearly I will still have a role to play in this country.

  

  Mangosuthu Buthelezi
  • People
  • Long
  • Country

• In 2012, I see the potential for people to come together, huge moments of political and social engagement where elections are part of the strategy for change, but not the end goal and not the only thing that matters.

  

  Olivia Wilde
  • People
  • Together
  • Political

• I don't think I have a black-hat image.

  

  Harold Simmons
  • Think
  • Black
  • Image

• I learned how to comport myself among trolls, elves, hobbits or goblins. I learned that a friend can be lost to greed and avarice. I learned that solving riddles may be as important a survival skill as bowmanship. I know how to talk to a dragon, and that it's best not to.

  

  Karen Joy Fowler
  • Important
  • May
  • Lost

• Thousands of years ago, civilizations flourished in Africa which suffer not at all by comparison with those of other continents. In those centuries, Africans were politically free and economically independent. Their social patterns were their own and their cultures truly indigenous.

  

  Haile Selassie
  • Free
  • Independent
  • Africa

• I would not do anything to besmirch my reputation any further than it has already been.

  

  Randy Quaid
  • Reputation
  • Would
  • Further

• And the idea of just wandering off to a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for awhile is just bliss.

  

  Joanne Rowling
  • Writing
  • Idea
  • Bliss

• You start thinking about a character in a new book, of course you're going to think pretty soon, 'Well, what's their secret? What is their problem?' Maybe, 'What is their secret?' is another way of saying, 'What is their problem?' There's got to be some issue, or you've got a totally boring book!

  

  Nancy Werlin
  • Thinking
  • Character
  • Book

• Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.

  

  C. Wright Mills
  • Life
  • History
  • Society

• French people are never happy with what they have. They're always complaining. They're happy when they're complaining.

  

  Vincent Cassel
  • People
  • Happy
  • Complaining

• I was born and raised in Ohio. During my childhood, I spent most of my time drawing and reading fairy tales and myths.

  

  Natalie Babbitt
  • Time
  • Reading
  • Childhood

• The 'Hercules' role just kind of came to me, but I had a lot of fun trying something new.

  

  Irina Shayk
  • Fun
  • Kind
  • Role

• The fact is that Superman isn't around because he is the oldest superhero. He's still around because he is a great superhero. He's the guy that spawned the entire genre, and that didn't happen because it was a mediocre idea.

  

  Gary Frank
  • Great
  • Guy
  • Superhero

• I sometimes look into the face of my dog Stan and see a wistful sadness and existential angst, when all he is actually doing is slowly scanning the ceiling for flies.

  

  Merrill Markoe
  • Sometimes
  • Existential
  • Scanning

• Those revolutionaries who have, by chance, escaped the gallows should live and show to the world that they cannot only embrace gallows for the ideal but also bear the worst type of tortures in the dark, dingy prison cells.

  

  Bhagat Singh
  • World
  • Live
  • Dark

• I've learnt that you are who you are, and in the end, if you don't believe it, then no one will.

  

  Usher
  • Believe
  • You
  • End

• When given the opportunity to fail myself or fail someone else, I choose to fail myself.

  

  James Murphy
  • Opportunity

• I'm a parent, and I try to take care of my health and keep my life in order. In the last few years I've really had to decide what's important to me, and it seems to me that my family and my health are top on the list. And those have nothing to do with show business.

  

  Diana Ross
  • Life
  • Important
  • Trying

• We are at heart so profoundly anarchistic that the only form of state we can imagine living in is Utopian; and so cynical that the only Utopia we can believe in is authoritarian.

  

  Lionel Trilling
  • Believe
  • Heart