Historical determinism is a recipe for political quietism. Terry Eagleton More Quotes by Terry Eagleton More Quotes From Terry Eagleton Schizophrenic language has in this sense an interesting resemblance to poetry. Terry Eagleton schizophreniclanguageinteresting [F]or the most part football these days is the opium of the people, not to speak of their crack cocaine. Its icon is the impeccably Tory, slavishly conformist Beckham. The Reds are no longer the Bolsheviks. Nobody serious about political change can shirk the fact that the game has to be abolished. And any political outfit that tried it on would have about as much chance of power as the chief executive of BP has in taking over from Oprah Winfrey. Terry Eagleton gamesfootballsoccer Negativity is often looked upon [in the USA] as a kind of thought crime. Not since the advent of socialist realism has the world witnessed such pathological upbeatness. Terry Eagleton negativityusaoptimistic Capitalism cannot survive without a working class, while the working class can flourish a lot more freely without capitalism. Terry Eagleton working-classcapitalismclass 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. Terry Eagleton plothomecharacter The frontier between public and private shifts from time to time and culture to culture. Terry Eagleton frontiersculture Literary texts do not exist on bookshelves: they are processes of signification materialized only in the practice of reading. For literature to happen, the reader is quite as vital as the author. Terry Eagleton readingliteraturepractice It is difficult to think of an origin without wanting to go back beyond it. Terry Eagleton difficultthinking It is language which speaks in literature, in all its swarming 'polysemic' plurality, not the author himself. Terry Eagleton languagespeakliterature Any attempt to define literary theory in terms of a distinctive method is doomed to failure. Terry Eagleton literary-theorymethodterm We live in a society which on the one hand pressurizes us into the pursuit of instant gratification, and the other hand imposes on whole sectors of the population and endless deferment of fulfillment. Terry Eagleton pursuitpopulationhands The truth is that liberal humanism is at once largely ineffectual, and the best ideology of the 'human' that present bourgeois society can muster. Terry Eagleton truth-ishumansideology Christian faith, as I understand it, is not primarily a matter of signing on for the proposition that there exists a Supreme Being, but the kind of commitment made manifest by a human being at the end of his tether, foundering in darkness, pain, and bewilderment, who nevertheless remains faithful to the promise of a transformative love. Terry Eagleton painchristiancommitment I say that virtue is really all about enjoying yourself, living fully; but of course it is far from obvious what living fully actually means. Terry Eagleton enjoyvirtuemean If history, philosophy and so on vanish from academic life, what they leave in their wake may be a technical training facility or corporate research institute. But it will not be a university in the classical sense of the term, and it would be deceptive to call it one. Terry Eagleton academic-lifetrainingphilosophy Reading a text is more like tracing this process of constant flickering than it is like counting the beads on a necklace. Terry Eagleton necklacesreadingprocess Rousseau ranks among the great educational theorists of the modern era, even if he was the last man to put in charge of a classroom. Young adults, he thought, should be allowed to develop their capabilities in their distinctive way. Terry Eagleton adultseducationalmen What's wrong with a bit of nostalgia between friends? I think nostalgia sometimes gets too much of a bad press. Terry Eagleton too-muchnostalgiathinking Writing seems to rob me of my being: it is a second hand mode of communication, a pallid, mechanical transcript of speech, and so always at one remove from my consciousness. Terry Eagleton communicationwritinghands In the end, it is because the media are driven by the power and wealth of private individuals that they turn private lives into public spectacles. If every private life is now potentially public property, it is because private property has undermined public responsibility. Terry Eagleton mediaresponsibilitylife-is
