Works of art cannot save us. They can simply render us more sensitive to what needs to be repaired.
Terry EagletonPoetry is the most subtle of the literary arts, and students grow more ingenious by the year at avoiding it. If they can nip around Milton, duck under Blake and collapse gratefully into the arms of Jane Austen, a lot of them will.
Terry EagletonMan eternally tries to get back to an organic past that has slipped just beyond his reach.
Terry EagletonFrom the viewpoint of political power, culture is absolutely vital. So vital, indeed, that power cannot operate without it. It is culture, in the sense of the everyday habits and beliefs of a people, which beds power down, makes it appear natural and inevitable, turns it into spontaneous reflex and response.
Terry Eagleton