---
title: "4 Literary Quotes By Terry Eagleton"
description: "4 Literary quotes by Terry Eagleton. Plus more from Terry Eagleton and more Literary sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8aa/terry-eagleton-1660_approach_literature-transforms-and-intensifies-or_6122.jpg"
---

> [Literature transforms and intensifies ordinary language, deviates systematically from everyday speech. If you approach me at a bus stop and murmur Thou…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/literature-transforms-and-intensifies-ordinary-language-deviates/)

[Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8aa/terry-eagleton-1660_approach_literature-transforms-and-intensifies-or_6122.jpg)

> [Poetry is the most subtle of the literary arts, and students grow more ingenious by the year at avoiding it. If they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/poetry-is-the-most-subtle-of-the-literary-arts-and-students-grow-more/)

[Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b0/terry-eagleton-1660_arms_poetry-is-the-most-subtle-of-the-literar_2510603.png)

> [“Literary' feelings are responses to poems, not just states of emotion which occur in their presence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/literary-feelings-are-responses-to-poems-not-just-states-of-emotion/)

[Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e2/terry-eagleton-1660_feelings_literary-feelings-are-responses-to-poems_2698238.png)

> [“Literary works are pieces of rhetoric as well as reports. They demand a peculiarly vigilant kind of reading, one which is alert…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/literary-works-are-pieces-of-rhetoric-as-well-as-reports-they-demand/)

[Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/112/terry-eagleton-1660_literary_literary-works-are-pieces-of-rhetoric-as_3157981.jpg)

## Other authors on Literary

- [Cole Alpaugh 11 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary/cole-alpaugh/)
- [Roman Payne 8 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary/roman-payne/)
- [Susan L. Marshall 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary/susan-l-marshall/)

## 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/literary/terry-eagleton/#itemlist",
            "name": "4 Literary Quotes By Terry Eagleton",
            "numberOfItems": 4,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Literature transforms and intensifies ordinary language, deviates systematically from everyday speech. If you approach me at a bus stop and murmur Thou still unravished bride of quietness, then I am instantly aware that I am in the presence of the literary.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Terry Eagleton"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/literature-transforms-and-intensifies-ordinary-language-deviates/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8aa/terry-eagleton-1660_approach_literature-transforms-and-intensifies-or_6122.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8aa/terry-eagleton-1660_approach_literature-transforms-and-intensifies-or_6122.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8aa/terry-eagleton-1660_approach_literature-transforms-and-intensifies-or_6122.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Literature transforms and intensifies ordinary language, deviates systematically from everyday speech. If…” — Terry Eagleton",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Poetry is the most subtle of the literary arts, and students grow more ingenious by the year at avoiding it. If they can nip around Milton, duck under Blake and collapse gratefully into the arms of Jane Austen, a lot of them will.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Terry Eagleton"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/poetry-is-the-most-subtle-of-the-literary-arts-and-students-grow-more/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b0/terry-eagleton-1660_arms_poetry-is-the-most-subtle-of-the-literar_2510603.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b0/terry-eagleton-1660_arms_poetry-is-the-most-subtle-of-the-literar_2510603.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b0/terry-eagleton-1660_arms_poetry-is-the-most-subtle-of-the-literar_2510603.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Poetry is the most subtle of the literary arts, and students grow more ingenious by the year at avoiding it…” — Terry Eagleton",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Literary' feelings are responses to poems, not just states of emotion which occur in their presence.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Terry Eagleton"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/literary-feelings-are-responses-to-poems-not-just-states-of-emotion/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e2/terry-eagleton-1660_feelings_literary-feelings-are-responses-to-poems_2698238.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e2/terry-eagleton-1660_feelings_literary-feelings-are-responses-to-poems_2698238.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e2/terry-eagleton-1660_feelings_literary-feelings-are-responses-to-poems_2698238.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Literary' feelings are responses to poems, not just states of emotion which occur in their presence.” — Terry Eagleton",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Literary works are pieces of rhetoric as well as reports. They demand a peculiarly vigilant kind of reading, one which is alert to tone, mood, pace, genre, syntax, grammar, texture, rhythm, narrative structure, punctuation, ambiguity – in fact to everything that comes under the heading of ‘form’.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Terry Eagleton"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/literary-works-are-pieces-of-rhetoric-as-well-as-reports-they-demand/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/112/terry-eagleton-1660_literary_literary-works-are-pieces-of-rhetoric-as_3157981.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/112/terry-eagleton-1660_literary_literary-works-are-pieces-of-rhetoric-as_3157981.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/112/terry-eagleton-1660_literary_literary-works-are-pieces-of-rhetoric-as_3157981.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Literary works are pieces of rhetoric as well as reports. They demand a peculiarly vigilant kind of reading…” — Terry Eagleton",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary/terry-eagleton/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary/terry-eagleton/",
            "name": "Literary Quotes by Terry Eagleton",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary/terry-eagleton/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8aa/terry-eagleton-1660_approach_literature-transforms-and-intensifies-or_6122.jpg"
            },
            "description": "4 Literary quotes by Terry Eagleton. Plus more from Terry Eagleton and more Literary sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary/terry-eagleton/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary/terry-eagleton/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Literary",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Terry Eagleton",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary/terry-eagleton/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```