---
title: "1 1984 Quotes By Irving Howe"
description: "1 1984 quotes by Irving Howe. Plus more from Irving Howe and more 1984 sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae4/irving-howe-27693_1984_about-some-books-we-feel-that-our-reluct_2413997.jpg"
---

> [“About some books we feel that our reluctance to return to them is the true measure of our admiration. It is hard to suppose that many people go back, from a spontaneous desire, to reread 1984 : there is neither…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/about-some-books-we-feel-that-our-reluctance-to-return-to-them-is-the/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae4/irving-howe-27693_1984_about-some-books-we-feel-that-our-reluct_2413997.jpg)

## Other authors on 1984

## More by Irving Howe

> [One great flaw in the reforming passion is that in its eagerness to remedy social wrongs it tends to neglect, certainly to undervalue, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/one-great-flaw-in-the-reforming-passion-is-that-in-its-eagerness-to/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

> [Modernity consists in a revolt against the prevailing style, an unyielding rage against the official order.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/modernity-consists-in-a-revolt-against-the-prevailing-style-an/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

> [I was in a garden at the Rodin Museum. For a few minutes I was alone, sitting on a bench between two long hedges…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/i-was-in-a-garden-at-the-rodin-museum-for-a-few-minutes-i-was-alone/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

> [Imagination is not something apart and hermetic, not a way of leaving reality behind; it is a way of engaging reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/imagination-is-not-something-apart-and-hermetic-not-a-way-of-leaving/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

> [The most glorious vision of the intellectual life is still that which is loosely called humanist: the idea of a mind committed yet dispassionate,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/the-most-glorious-vision-of-the-intellectual-life-is-still-that-which/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

> [Could we say that the short short is to other kinds of fiction somewhat as the lyric is to other kinds of poetry? The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/could-we-say-that-the-short-short-is-to-other-kinds-of-fiction/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

> [“The usual short story cannot have a complex plot, but it often has a simple one resembling a chain with two or three links.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/the-usual-short-story-cannot-have-a-complex-plot-but-it-often-has-a/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

> [“There is utopia and utopia. The kind imposed by an elite in the name of a historical imperative—that utopia is hell. It must lead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/there-is-utopia-and-utopia-the-kind-imposed-by-an-elite-in-the-name/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

> [Sometimes ... the short short appears to rest on nothing more than a fragile anecdote which the writer has managed to drape with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/sometimes-the-short-short-appears-to-rest-on-nothing-more-than-a/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

> [Comedy speaks for civilization; farce bears an ill-concealed, sometimes unconcealed animus against civilization. Often against civility too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/comedy-speaks-for-civilization-farce-bears-an-ill-concealed-sometimes/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

> [Good readers make much out of little.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/good-readers-make-much-out-of-little/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

> [The knowledge that makes us cherish innocence makes innocence unattainable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/the-knowledge-that-makes-us-cherish-innocence-makes-innocence/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

> [The message of guidance that neither politics nor philosophy nor religion now seems able to provide, we look for in modern literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/the-message-of-guidance-that-neither-politics-nor-philosophy-nor/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

> [No one has ever seen the self. It has no visible shape, nor does it occupy measurable space. It is an abstraction, like other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/no-one-has-ever-seen-the-self-it-has-no-visible-shape-nor-does-it/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

> [“There can't be much development of action or theme in such stories, but at least there is some. By contrast, in the short short…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-howe/there-can-t-be-much-development-of-action-or-theme-in-such-stories/)

[Irving Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-howe/)

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