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The spectator, we might put it, contracts by infection the characteristic disease of the actor, the attenuation of selfhood that results from impersonation.

— Lionel Trilling Sincerity and Authenticity (1972)

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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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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.