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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 Notebook entry (1948)

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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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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.