---
title: "1 Metaphysical Reality Quotes By Lionel Trilling"
description: "1 Metaphysical Reality quotes by Lionel Trilling. Plus more from Lionel Trilling and more Metaphysical Reality sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06b/lionel-trilling-12210_hard_in-the-american-metaphysical-reality-is_486972.png"
---

> [In the American Metaphysical, reality is always material reality, hard, resistant, unformed, impenetrable, and unpleasant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/in-the-american-metaphysical-reality-is-always-material-reality-hard/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06b/lionel-trilling-12210_hard_in-the-american-metaphysical-reality-is_486972.png)

## More by Lionel Trilling

> [Our culture peculiarly honors the act of blaming, which it takes as the sign of virtue and intellect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/our-culture-peculiarly-honors-the-act-of-blaming-which-it-takes-as/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

> [The definitions of humanism are many, but let us here take it to be the attitude of those men who think it an advantage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/the-definitions-of-humanism-are-many-but-let-us-here-take-it-to-be/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

> [Literature is the human activity that make the fullest and most precise account of variousness, possibility, complexity, and difficulty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/literature-is-the-human-activity-that-make-the-fullest-and-most/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

> [A primary function of art andthought is to liberate the individual from the tyranny of his culture in the environmental sense and to permit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/a-primary-function-of-art-andthought-is-to-liberate-the-individual/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

> [Being a Jew is like walking in the wind or swimming: you are touched at all points and conscious everywhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/being-a-jew-is-like-walking-in-the-wind-or-swimming-you-are-touched/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

> [It is possible that the contemplation of cruelty will not make us humane but cruel; that the reiteration of the badness of our spiritual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/it-is-possible-that-the-contemplation-of-cruelty-will-not-make-us/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

> [Every neurosis is a primitive form of legal proceeding in which the accused carries on the prosecution, imposes judgment and executes the sentence: all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/every-neurosis-is-a-primitive-form-of-legal-proceeding-in-which-the/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

> [Some paradox of our natures leads us, when once we have made our fellow men the objects of our enlightened interest, to go on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/some-paradox-of-our-natures-leads-us-when-once-we-have-made-our/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

> [In the American Metaphysical, reality is always material reality, hard, resistant, unformed, impenetrable, and unpleasant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/in-the-american-metaphysical-reality-is-always-material-reality-hard/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

> [“...perhaps we have never been more than vocal and perhaps soon we can hope to be no more than thoughtful...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/perhaps-we-have-never-been-more-than-vocal-and-perhaps-soon-we-can/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

> [It is now life and not art that requires the willing suspension of disbelief.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/it-is-now-life-and-not-art-that-requires-the-willing-suspension-of/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

> [Ideology is not the product of thought; it is the habit or the ritual of showing respect for certain formulas to which, for various…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/ideology-is-not-the-product-of-thought-it-is-the-habit-or-the-ritual/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

> [There is no connection between the political ideas of our educated class and the deep places of the imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/there-is-no-connection-between-the-political-ideas-of-our-educated/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

> [The function of literature, through all its mutations, has been to make us aware of the particularity of selves, and the high authority of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/the-function-of-literature-through-all-its-mutations-has-been-to-make/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

> [Unless we insist that politics is imagination and mind, we will learn that imagination and mind are politics, and of a kind we will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/unless-we-insist-that-politics-is-imagination-and-mind-we-will-learn/)

[Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical-reality/lionel-trilling/#itemlist",
            "name": "1 Metaphysical Reality Quotes By Lionel Trilling",
            "numberOfItems": 1,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "In the American Metaphysical, reality is always material reality, hard, resistant, unformed, impenetrable, and unpleasant.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Lionel Trilling"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/in-the-american-metaphysical-reality-is-always-material-reality-hard/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06b/lionel-trilling-12210_hard_in-the-american-metaphysical-reality-is_486972.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06b/lionel-trilling-12210_hard_in-the-american-metaphysical-reality-is_486972.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06b/lionel-trilling-12210_hard_in-the-american-metaphysical-reality-is_486972.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“In the American Metaphysical, reality is always material reality, hard, resistant, unformed, impenetrable…” — Lionel Trilling",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical-reality/lionel-trilling/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical-reality/lionel-trilling/",
            "name": "Metaphysical Reality Quotes by Lionel Trilling",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical-reality/lionel-trilling/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06b/lionel-trilling-12210_hard_in-the-american-metaphysical-reality-is_486972.png"
            },
            "description": "1 Metaphysical Reality quotes by Lionel Trilling. Plus more from Lionel Trilling and more Metaphysical Reality sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical-reality/lionel-trilling/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical-reality/lionel-trilling/#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": "Metaphysical Reality",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical-reality/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Lionel Trilling",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical-reality/lionel-trilling/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```