Where misunderstanding serves others as an advantage, one is helpless to make oneself understood.
Lionel TrillingRead
Youth is a time when we find the books we give up but do not get over.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Youth is a formative period where certain books leave lasting impressions on us.
In this quote, Lionel Trilling highlights the idea that the literature we encounter in our youth often shapes our thoughts and identities in profound ways. These books are not just stories; they are experiences that resonate with us deeply, influencing our perspectives and values long after we have read them.
Themes
YouthBooksLiteratureEducationIdentityInfluence
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech, one could use this quote to emphasize the impact of education and reading in shaping character.
More from Lionel Trilling
All quotes βOur culture peculiarly honors the act of blaming, which it takes as the sign of virtue and intellect.
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The poet may be used as a barometer, but let us not forget that he is also part of the weather.
Lionel TrillingRead
Every neurosis is a primitive form of legal proceeding in which the accused carries on the prosecution, imposes judgment and executes the sentence: all to the end that someone else should not perform the same process.
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There is no connection between the political ideas of our educated class and the deep places of the imagination.
Lionel TrillingRead
We are at heart so profoundly anarchistic that the only form of state we can imagine living in is Utopian; and so cynical that the only Utopia we can believe in is authoritarian.
Lionel TrillingRead
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