Lionel Trilling

Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal.

The poet is in command of his fantasy, while it is exactly the mark of the neurotic that he is possessed by his fantasy.

Being a Jew is like walking in the wind or swimming: you are touched at all points and conscious everywhere.

Deep down, there is in the substance of the cosmos a primordial disposition, sui generis, for self-arrangement and self-involution.

I've learned that even the word 'jubilee' used in connection with the Reformation can give rise to discussions.

Exeter was, I suspect, more crucial in my life than in the lives of most members of my class, and conceivably, than in the lives of almost anyone else who ever attended the school.