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Apparently the rise of consciousness is linked to certain kinds of privation. It is the bitterness of self-consciousness that we knowers know best. Critical of the illusions that sustained mankind in earlier times, this self-consciousness of ours does little to sustain us now. The question is: which is disenchanted, the world itself or the consciousness we have of it?

— Saul Bellow It All Adds Up (1994)

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More quotes by Saul Bellow

Goodness is achieved not in a vacuum, but in the company of other men, attended by love.

Dangling Man (1944)

For the first time in history, the human species as a whole has gone into politics. Everyone is in the act, and there is no telling what may come of it.

To Jerusalem and Back: A Personal Account (1976)

A novel is balanced between a few true impressions and the multitude of false ones that make up most of what we call life.

In an age of enormities, the emotions are naturally weakened.

It All Adds Up (1994)

This is what makes packaged opinion so attractive.

It All Adds Up (1994)

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