We who are liberal and progressive know that the poor are our equals in every sense except that of being equal to us.
Lionel TrillingThe function of literature, through all its mutations, has been to make us aware of the particularity of selves, and the high authority of the self in its quarrel with its society and its culture. Literature is in that sense subversive.
Lionel TrillingThe poet may be used as a barometer, but let us not forget that he is also part of the weather.
Lionel TrillingWhere misunderstanding serves others as an advantage, one is helpless to make oneself understood.
Lionel Trilling