Terry Eagleton Quotes & Sayings (Page 6)

“Language, identity and forms of life are the terms in which political demands are shaped and voiced.”

“Most poetry in the modern age has retreated to the private sphere, turning its back on the political realm.”

“For the liberal state to accommodate a diversity of beliefs while having few positive convictions is one of the more admirable achievements of civilization.”

“It is in Rousseau's writing above all that history begins to turn from upper-class honour to middle-class humanitarianism. Pity, sympathy and compassion lie at the centre of his moral vision. Values associated with the feminine begin to infiltrate social existence as a whole, rather than being confined to the domestic sphere.”

“I liked early Amis a lot, but I stopped reading him some time ago. I admire Hitchens on literary topics - I think he is very astute. McEwan, I read a bit. But I suppose it's more the ideological phenomenon that they represent together that interests me.”

“With fiction, you can talk about plot, character and narrative, whereas a poem brings home the fact that everything that happens in a work of literature happens in terms of language. And this is daunting stuff to deal with.”

“Cynicism and naivety lie cheek by jowl in the American imagination; if the United States is one of the most venal nations on Earth, it is also one of the most earnestly idealistic.”