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At the bottom of at least popular Marxism there has always been a kind of disgust with humanity as it is and a perfect faith in humanity as it is to be.

— Lionel Trilling

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Faith

More quotes by Lionel Trilling

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

We are all ill; but even a universal sickness implies an idea of health.

The Liberal Imagination (1950)

No literature has ever been so shockingly personal as that of our time — it asks every question that is forbidden by polite society.

The poet is in command of his fantasy, while it is exactly the mark of the neurotic that he is possessed by his fantasy.

The Liberal Imagination (1950)

Everything which the economist takes from you in the way of life and humanity, he restores to you in the form of money and wealth.

Sincerity and Authenticity (1972)

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Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

Thomas Jefferson Letter to Peter Carr (1787)

I had never doubted my own abilities, but I was quite prepared to believe that "the world" would decline to recognize them.

Colin Wilson Postscript to the Outsider (1967)

Love is the active, working principle in all true faith. It is its very soul, without which it is dead. "Faith works by love."

Jonathan Edwards Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Lionel Trilling (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.