--- title: "2 Humanism Quotes By Terry Eagleton" description: "2 Humanism quotes by Terry Eagleton. Plus more from Terry Eagleton and more Humanism sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/86b/terry-eagleton-1660_bourgeois_the-truth-is-that-liberal-humanism-is-at_1863839.png" --- > [The truth is that liberal humanism is at once largely ineffectual, and the best ideology of the 'human' that present bourgeois society can muster.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/the-truth-is-that-liberal-humanism-is-at-once-largely-ineffectual-and/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/86b/terry-eagleton-1660_bourgeois_the-truth-is-that-liberal-humanism-is-at_1863839.png) > [“The impotence of liberal humanism is a symptom of its essentially contradictory relationship to modern capitalism. For although it forms part of the ‘official’ ideology of such society, and the ‘humanities’ exist to reproduce it, the social order within which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/the-impotence-of-liberal-humanism-is-a-symptom-of-its-essentially/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c62/terry-eagleton-1660_first-place_the-impotence-of-liberal-humanism-is-a-s_2260983.png) ## Other authors on Humanism - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-abhijit-naskar-99.jpg) Abhijit Naskar 193 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanism/abhijit-naskar/) - [C. JoyBell C 18 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanism/c-joybell-c/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-yuval-noah-harari-100.jpg) Yuval Noah Harari 17 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanism/yuval-noah-harari/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-suzy-kassem-596.jpg) Suzy Kassem 12 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanism/suzy-kassem/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b012/author-steve-ghikadis-47087.jpg) Steve Ghikadis 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanism/steve-ghikadis/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b006/author-christopher-hitchens-23938.jpg) Christopher Hitchens 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanism/christopher-hitchens/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-claudio-magris-24504.jpg) Corliss Lamont 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanism/corliss-lamont/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-bram-cohen-19129.jpg) Paul Kurtz 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanism/paul-kurtz/) ## More by Terry Eagleton > [Nations sometimes flourish by denying the crimes that brought them into being. Only when the original invasion, occupation, extermination or usurpation has been safely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/nations-sometimes-flourish-by-denying-the-crimes-that-brought-them/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [Literature transforms and intensifies ordinary language, deviates systematically from everyday speech. If you approach me at a bus stop and murmur Thou still unravished…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/literature-transforms-and-intensifies-ordinary-language-deviates/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [The study of history and philosophy, accompanied by some acquaintance with art and literature, should be for lawyers and engineers as well as for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/the-study-of-history-and-philosophy-accompanied-by-some-acquaintance/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [To claim that science and religion pose different questions to the world is not to suggest that if the bones of Jesus were discovered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/to-claim-that-science-and-religion-pose-different-questions-to-the/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [“Evil may be 'unscientific' but so is a song or a smile.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/evil-may-be-unscientific-but-so-is-a-song-or-a-smile/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [Virtue is something you have to get good at, like playing the trombone or tolerating bores at parties. Being a virtuous human being takes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/virtue-is-something-you-have-to-get-good-at-like-playing-the-trombone/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [All propaganda or popularization involves a putting of the complex into the simple, but such a move is instantly not constructive. For if the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/all-propaganda-or-popularization-involves-a-putting-of-the-complex/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [God chose what is weakest in the world to shame the strong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/god-chose-what-is-weakest-in-the-world-to-shame-the-strong/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [Reading is not a straightforward linear movement, a merely cumulative affair: our initial speculations generate a frame of reference within which to interpret what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/reading-is-not-a-straightforward-linear-movement-a-merely-cumulative/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [“What it means to be a ‘better person’, then, must be concrete and practical — that is to say, concerned with people’s political situations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/what-it-means-to-be-a-better-person-then-must-be-concrete-and/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [“What we consume now is not objects or events, but our experience of them. Just as we never need to leave our cars, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/what-we-consume-now-is-not-objects-or-events-but-our-experience-of/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [“The theatre can teach us some truth, but it is the truth of the illusory nature of our existence. It can alert us to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/the-theatre-can-teach-us-some-truth-but-it-is-the-truth-of-the/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [“What we have witnessed in our own time is the death of universities as centres of critique. Since Margaret Thatcher, the role of academia…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/what-we-have-witnessed-in-our-own-time-is-the-death-of-universities/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [In the deep night of metaphysics, all cats look black.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/in-the-deep-night-of-metaphysics-all-cats-look-black/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [We face a conflict between civilisation and culture, which used to be on the same side. Civilisation means rational reflection, material wellbeing, individual autonomy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/we-face-a-conflict-between-civilisation-and-culture-which-used-to-be/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanism/terry-eagleton/#itemlist", "name": "2 Humanism Quotes By Terry Eagleton", "numberOfItems": 2, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The truth is that liberal humanism is at once largely ineffectual, and the best ideology of the 'human' that present bourgeois society can muster.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Terry Eagleton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/the-truth-is-that-liberal-humanism-is-at-once-largely-ineffectual-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/86b/terry-eagleton-1660_bourgeois_the-truth-is-that-liberal-humanism-is-at_1863839.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/86b/terry-eagleton-1660_bourgeois_the-truth-is-that-liberal-humanism-is-at_1863839.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/86b/terry-eagleton-1660_bourgeois_the-truth-is-that-liberal-humanism-is-at_1863839.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The truth is that liberal humanism is at once largely ineffectual, and the best ideology of the 'human' that…” — Terry Eagleton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The impotence of liberal humanism is a symptom of its essentially contradictory relationship to modern capitalism. For although it forms part of the ‘official’ ideology of such society, and the ‘humanities’ exist to reproduce it, the social order within which it exists has in one sense very little time for it at all. Who is concerned with the uniqueness of the individual, the imperishable truths of the human condition or the sensuous textures of lived experience in the Foreign Office or the boardroom of Standard Oil? Capitalism’s reverential hat-tipping to the arts is obvious hypocrisy, except when it can hang them on its walls as a sound investment. Yet capitalist states have continued to direct funds into higher education humanities departments, and though such departments are usually the first in line for savage cutting when capitalism enters on one of its periodic crises, it is doubtful that it is only hypocrisy, a fear of appearing in its true philistine colours, which compels this grudging support. The truth is that liberal humanism is at once largely ineffectual, and the best ideology of the ‘human’ that present bourgeois society can muster. 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