--- title: "104 George Steiner Quotes - Famous Philosopher (Martin Heidegger)" description: "George Steiner quotes on transcendence beyond language, the weight of lies, and the unhurried nature of books." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b084/author-george-steiner-4683.jpg" --- ![Portrait of George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b084/author-george-steiner-4683.jpg) # George Steiner (1929–2020) Philosopher France **104** quotes in **706** categories But there is a third mode of transcendence, Steiner says, where language stops and spirit moves without outward words. He warns that words packed with lies or atrocity struggle to revive life. He also reminds us that books are never in a rush; they create at their own pace, inviting deep reading. Rate this collection: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet George Steiner was a philosopher from France, best known for *Martin Heidegger*. ## Quick Facts About George Steiner Born April 23, 1929 Died February 3, 2020 Nationality France Profession Philosopher Notable works Martin Heidegger Known for After Babel Spouse Zara Steiner ## About George Steiner Francis George Steiner, FBA was a French and American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist and educator. He wrote extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, as well as the impact of the Holocaust. A 2001 article in The Guardian described Steiner as a "polyglot and polymath". ## Awards & Honors Ludwig-Börne-Preis Rhodes Scholarship Guggenheim Fellowship Knight of the Legion of Honour Honorary doctor of the Catholic University of Louvain Honorary doctor of the University of Liège Fellow of the British Academy “Today” Prize Show 12 more awards Princess of Asturias Award for Communications and Humanities Alfonso Reyes International Prize Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature Honorary doctor of the University of Bologna honorary doctor of Durham University honorary doctor of the University of Girona honorary doctorate of the University of Salamanca honorary doctorate of the University of Glasgow honorary doctor of the University of Bristol honorary doctor of the University of Lisbon honorary doctorate from ENS honorary doctor of Paris Descartes University ## Quotes by George Steiner > [“When a language dies, a possible world dies with it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/when-a-language-dies-a-possible-world-dies-with-it/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/977/george-steiner-4683_culture_when-a-language-dies-a-possible-world-di_2035565.png) > [Anything can be said and, in consequence, written about anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/anything-can-be-said-and-in-consequence-written-about-anything/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Consequence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consequence/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b5/george-steiner-4683_consequence_anything-can-be-said-and-in-consequence_1314055.png) > [To understand is to decipher. To hear significance is to translate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/to-understand-is-to-decipher-to-hear-significance-is-to-translate/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Decipher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decipher/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c0/george-steiner-4683_decipher_to-understand-is-to-decipher-to-hear-sig_1444358.png) > [“The symmetries of immanence are cruel.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/the-symmetries-of-immanence-are-cruel/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Cruel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cruel/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cd/george-steiner-4683_cruel_the-symmetries-of-immanence-are-cruel-29_2916904.png) > [The whispers of shared ecstasy are choral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/the-whispers-of-shared-ecstasy-are-choral/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Ecstasy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ecstasy/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a26/george-steiner-4683_ecstasy_the-whispers-of-shared-ecstasy-are-chora_3077239.png) > [I learned early on that 'rabbi' means teacher, not priest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/i-learned-early-on-that-rabbi-means-teacher-not-priest/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Early](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/early/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3d/george-steiner-4683_early_i-learned-early-on-that-rabbi-means-teac_1707902.png) > [“What you don't know by heart you haven't really loved deeply enough”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/what-you-don-t-know-by-heart-you-haven-t-really-loved-deeply-enough/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Deeply](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deeply/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f1c/george-steiner-4683_deeply_what-you-don-t-know-by-heart-you-haven-t_1578945.png) > [The age of the book is almost gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/the-age-of-the-book-is-almost-gone/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/age/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b56/george-steiner-4683_age_the-age-of-the-book-is-almost-gone-75278_752789.png) > [If, in the Judaic perception, the language of the Adamic was that of love, the grammars of fallen man are those of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/if-in-the-judaic-perception-the-language-of-the-adamic-was-that-of/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Code](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/code/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/621/george-steiner-4683_code_if-in-the-judaic-perception-the-language_2022475.png) > [Increasingly unable to create for itself a relevant body of myth, the modern imagination will ransack the treasure house of the classic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/increasingly-unable-to-create-for-itself-a-relevant-body-of-myth-the/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/afc/george-steiner-4683_body_increasingly-unable-to-create-for-itself_3230275.png) > [Language is the main instrument of man's refusal to accept the world as it is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/language-is-the-main-instrument-of-man-s-refusal-to-accept-the-world/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Accepting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accepting/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/86c/george-steiner-4683_accepting_language-is-the-main-instrument-of-man-s_2300115.png) > [The Socratic demonstration of the ultimate unity of tragic and comic drama is forever lost. But the proof is in the art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/the-socratic-demonstration-of-the-ultimate-unity-of-tragic-and-comic/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6da/george-steiner-4683_art_the-socratic-demonstration-of-the-ultima_1868139.png) > [Books are in no hurry. An act of creation is in no hurry; it reads us, it privileges us infinitely.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/books-are-in-no-hurry-an-act-of-creation-is-in-no-hurry-it-reads-us-2/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Baffled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/baffled/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/20f/george-steiner-4683_baffled_books-are-in-no-hurry-an-act-of-creation_366608.png) > [I have students who are now in chairs in five continents. They invite me to their inaugurals. A tremendous reward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/i-have-students-who-are-now-in-chairs-in-five-continents-they-invite/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Chairs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chairs/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5fc/george-steiner-4683_chairs_i-have-students-who-are-now-in-chairs-in_976470.png) > [Every language is a world. Without translation, we would inhabit parishes bordering on silence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/every-language-is-a-world-without-translation-we-would-inhabit/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/721/george-steiner-4683_language_every-language-is-a-world-without-transl_501707.png) > [Literary criticism has about it neither rigour nor proof. Where it is honest, it is passionate, private experience seeking to persuade.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/literary-criticism-has-about-it-neither-rigour-nor-proof-where-it-is/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f7a/george-steiner-4683_criticism_literary-criticism-has-about-it-neither_2886322.png) > [“But there is a third mode of trancendence: in it language simply ceases, and the motion of spirit gives no further outward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/but-there-is-a-third-mode-of-trancendence-in-it-language-simply/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Manifestation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/manifestation/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/814/george-steiner-4683_manifestation_but-there-is-a-third-mode-of-trancendenc_44831.png) > [Fischer does not merely outplay opponents; he leaves them bodily and mentally glutted. Fisher himself speaks of the exultant instant in which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/fischer-does-not-merely-outplay-opponents-he-leaves-them-bodily-and/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Crumbling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crumbling/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a33/george-steiner-4683_crumbling_fischer-does-not-merely-outplay-opponent_2384761.png) > [The Jew has his anchorage not in place but in time, in his highly developed sense of history as personal context. Six…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/the-jew-has-his-anchorage-not-in-place-but-in-time-in-his-highly/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Awareness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awareness/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f67/george-steiner-4683_awareness_the-jew-has-his-anchorage-not-in-place-b_2340964.png) > [Women began their inner emancipation by their access to literature, by access to the world through books; an access they could not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/women-began-their-inner-emancipation-by-their-access-to-literature-by/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Access](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/access/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a38/george-steiner-4683_access_women-began-their-inner-emancipation-by_2413645.png) > [All serious art, music, literature is a critical act. It is so, firstly, in the sense of Matthew Arnold's phrase: "a criticism…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/all-serious-art-music-literature-is-a-critical-act-it-is-so-firstly/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f5/george-steiner-4683_art_all-serious-art-music-literature-is-a-cr_2454815.jpg) > [The very opposite of freedom is cliche, and nothing is less free, more inert with convention and hollow brutality, than a row…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/the-very-opposite-of-freedom-is-cliche-and-nothing-is-less-free-more/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Brutality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brutality/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb0/george-steiner-4683_brutality_the-very-opposite-of-freedom-is-cliche-a_80018.png) > [I have every reason to believe that an individual man or woman fluent in several tongues seduces, possesses, remembers differently according to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/i-have-every-reason-to-believe-that-an-individual-man-or-woman-fluent/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Believe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0df/george-steiner-4683_believe_i-have-every-reason-to-believe-that-an-i_278050.jpg) > [Nothing in the next-door world of Dachau impinged on the great winter cycle of Beethoven chamber music played in Munich. No canvases…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/nothing-in-the-next-door-world-of-dachau-impinged-on-the-great-winter/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/12b/george-steiner-4683_book_nothing-in-the-next-door-world-of-dachau_2236857.png) > [“A canon is a guarded catalogue of that speech, music and art which houses inside us, which is irrevocably familiar to our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/a-canon-is-a-guarded-catalogue-of-that-speech-music-and-art-which/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2fd/george-steiner-4683_art_a-canon-is-a-guarded-catalogue-of-that-s_887109.jpg) > [What I affirm is the intuition that where God's presence is no longer a tenable supposition and where His absence is no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/what-i-affirm-is-the-intuition-that-where-god-s-presence-is-no-longer/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Absence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absence/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9c/george-steiner-4683_absence_what-i-affirm-is-the-intuition-that-wher_2158754.jpg) > [“There would be no history as we know it, no religion, no metaphysics or aesthetics as we have lived them, without an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/there-would-be-no-history-as-we-know-it-no-religion-no-metaphysics-or/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Aesthetics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aesthetics/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb2/george-steiner-4683_aesthetics_there-would-be-no-history-as-we-know-it_3152682.jpg) > [Cheap music, childish images, the vulgate in language, in its crassest sense, can penetrate to the deeps of our necessities and dreams.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/cheap-music-childish-images-the-vulgate-in-language-in-its-crassest/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Bars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bars/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/622/george-steiner-4683_bars_cheap-music-childish-images-the-vulgate_2290818.png) > [If future society assumes the contours foretold by Marxism, if the jungle of our cities turns to the polis of man and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/if-future-society-assumes-the-contours-foretold-by-marxism-if-the/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ac/george-steiner-4683_art_if-future-society-assumes-the-contours-f_1537033.png) > [To many writers and thinkers, though not to all, another text is, or can be, the most naked and charged of life-forces…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/to-many-writers-and-thinkers-though-not-to-all-another-text-is-or-can/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Allusion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/allusion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/596/george-steiner-4683_allusion_to-many-writers-and-thinkers-though-not_1853819.png) > [Talk can neither be verified nor falsified in any rigorous sense. This is an open secret which hermeneutics and aesthetics, from Aristotle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/talk-can-neither-be-verified-nor-falsified-in-any-rigorous-sense-this/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Aesthetics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aesthetics/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/573/george-steiner-4683_aesthetics_talk-can-neither-be-verified-nor-falsifi_524210.jpg) > [The poet's discourse can be compared to the track of a charged particle through a cloud-chamber. An energised field of association and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/the-poet-s-discourse-can-be-compared-to-the-track-of-a-charged/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Association](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/association/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f72/george-steiner-4683_association_the-poet-s-discourse-can-be-compared-to_1388198.png) > [He is no true reader who has not experienced the reproachful fascination of the great shelves of unread books, of the libraries…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/he-is-no-true-reader-who-has-not-experienced-the-reproachful/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Asking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asking/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c61/george-steiner-4683_asking_he-is-no-true-reader-who-has-not-experie_2928362.png) > [Life proceeds amid an incessant network of signals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/life-proceeds-amid-an-incessant-network-of-signals/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Incessant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/incessant/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b4a/george-steiner-4683_incessant_life-proceeds-amid-an-incessant-network_1540151.png) > [Men are accomplices to that which leaves them indifferent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/men-are-accomplices-to-that-which-leaves-them-indifferent/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Accomplices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accomplices/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b02/george-steiner-4683_accomplices_men-are-accomplices-to-that-which-leaves_2902002.png) > [A good deal of classical music is, today, the opium of the good citizen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/a-good-deal-of-classical-music-is-today-the-opium-of-the-good-citizen/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Citizens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/citizens/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a10/george-steiner-4683_citizens_a-good-deal-of-classical-music-is-today_3032549.png) > [My father loved poetry and music. But deep in himself he thought teaching the finest thing a person could do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/my-father-loved-poetry-and-music-but-deep-in-himself-he-thought/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Deep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deep/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24a/george-steiner-4683_deep_my-father-loved-poetry-and-music-but-dee_479633.png) > [The immense majority of human biographies are a gray transit between domestic spasm and oblivion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/the-immense-majority-of-human-biographies-are-a-gray-transit-between/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Biographies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biographies/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/365/george-steiner-4683_biographies_the-immense-majority-of-human-biographie_430162.png) > [There is something terribly wrong with a culture inebriated by noise and gregariousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/there-is-something-terribly-wrong-with-a-culture-inebriated-by-noise/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/56b/george-steiner-4683_culture_there-is-something-terribly-wrong-with-a_2706639.png) > [When the modern scholar cites from a classic text, the quotation seems to burn a hole in his own drab page.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/when-the-modern-scholar-cites-from-a-classic-text-the-quotation-seems/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) [Citing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/citing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/986/george-steiner-4683_citing_when-the-modern-scholar-cites-from-a-cla_3018364.png) ## George Steiner by topic [Books (16)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/george-steiner/) [Language (14)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/george-steiner/) [Men (13)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/george-steiner/) [Writing (12)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/george-steiner/) [Poetry (12)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/george-steiner/) [Music (10)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/george-steiner/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/#itemlist", "name": "George Steiner Quotes", "numberOfItems": 40, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“When a language dies, a possible world dies with it.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Steiner" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/when-a-language-dies-a-possible-world-dies-with-it/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/977/george-steiner-4683_culture_when-a-language-dies-a-possible-world-di_2035565.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/977/george-steiner-4683_culture_when-a-language-dies-a-possible-world-di_2035565.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/977/george-steiner-4683_culture_when-a-language-dies-a-possible-world-di_2035565.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When a language dies, a possible world dies with it.” — George Steiner", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Anything can be said and, in consequence, written about anything.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Steiner" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/anything-can-be-said-and-in-consequence-written-about-anything/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b5/george-steiner-4683_consequence_anything-can-be-said-and-in-consequence_1314055.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b5/george-steiner-4683_consequence_anything-can-be-said-and-in-consequence_1314055.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b5/george-steiner-4683_consequence_anything-can-be-said-and-in-consequence_1314055.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Anything can be said and, in consequence, written about anything.” — George Steiner", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To understand is to decipher. 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"Quotation", "text": "The age of the book is almost gone.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Steiner" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/the-age-of-the-book-is-almost-gone/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b56/george-steiner-4683_age_the-age-of-the-book-is-almost-gone-75278_752789.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b56/george-steiner-4683_age_the-age-of-the-book-is-almost-gone-75278_752789.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b56/george-steiner-4683_age_the-age-of-the-book-is-almost-gone-75278_752789.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The age of the book is almost gone.” — George Steiner", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If, in the Judaic perception, the language of the Adamic was that of love, the grammars of fallen 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unable to create for itself a relevant body of myth, the modern imagination will ransack the treasure house of the classic.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Steiner" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/increasingly-unable-to-create-for-itself-a-relevant-body-of-myth-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/afc/george-steiner-4683_body_increasingly-unable-to-create-for-itself_3230275.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/afc/george-steiner-4683_body_increasingly-unable-to-create-for-itself_3230275.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/afc/george-steiner-4683_body_increasingly-unable-to-create-for-itself_3230275.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Increasingly unable to create for itself a relevant body of myth, the modern imagination will ransack the…” — George Steiner", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Language is the main instrument of man's refusal to accept the world as it is.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Steiner" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/language-is-the-main-instrument-of-man-s-refusal-to-accept-the-world/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/86c/george-steiner-4683_accepting_language-is-the-main-instrument-of-man-s_2300115.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/86c/george-steiner-4683_accepting_language-is-the-main-instrument-of-man-s_2300115.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/86c/george-steiner-4683_accepting_language-is-the-main-instrument-of-man-s_2300115.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Language is the main instrument of man's refusal to accept the world as it is.” — George Steiner", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 12, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The Socratic demonstration of the ultimate unity of tragic and comic drama is forever lost. 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Where it is honest, it is passionate, private experience seeking to persuade.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Steiner" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/literary-criticism-has-about-it-neither-rigour-nor-proof-where-it-is/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f7a/george-steiner-4683_criticism_literary-criticism-has-about-it-neither_2886322.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f7a/george-steiner-4683_criticism_literary-criticism-has-about-it-neither_2886322.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f7a/george-steiner-4683_criticism_literary-criticism-has-about-it-neither_2886322.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Literary criticism has about it neither rigour nor proof. 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No canvases came off museum walls as the butchers strolled reverently past, guide-books in hand.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Steiner" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/nothing-in-the-next-door-world-of-dachau-impinged-on-the-great-winter/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/12b/george-steiner-4683_book_nothing-in-the-next-door-world-of-dachau_2236857.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/12b/george-steiner-4683_book_nothing-in-the-next-door-world-of-dachau_2236857.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/12b/george-steiner-4683_book_nothing-in-the-next-door-world-of-dachau_2236857.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Nothing in the next-door world of Dachau impinged on the great winter cycle of Beethoven chamber music…” — George Steiner", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 25, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“A canon is a guarded catalogue of that speech, music and art which houses inside us, which is irrevocably familiar to our homecomings. And this will include, if honestly arrived at and declared (even if solely to oneself), all manner of ephemera, trivial, and possibly mendacious matter…No manor woman need justify his personal anthology, his canonic welcomes. 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And I would vary Yeats's axiom so as to say: no man can read fully, can answer answeringly to the aesthetic, whose \"nerve and blood\" are at peace in sceptical rationality, are now at home in immanence and verification. 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This instauration of trust, this entrance of man into the city of man, is that between word and world.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Steiner" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/there-would-be-no-history-as-we-know-it-no-religion-no-metaphysics-or/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb2/george-steiner-4683_aesthetics_there-would-be-no-history-as-we-know-it_3152682.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb2/george-steiner-4683_aesthetics_there-would-be-no-history-as-we-know-it_3152682.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb2/george-steiner-4683_aesthetics_there-would-be-no-history-as-we-know-it_3152682.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There would be no history as we know it, no religion, no metaphysics or aesthetics as we have lived them…” — George Steiner", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 28, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Cheap music, childish images, the vulgate in language, in its crassest sense, can penetrate to the deeps of our necessities and dreams. It can assert irrevocable tenure there. The opening bars, the hammer-beat accelerando of Edith Piaf's Je ne regrette rien - the text is infantile, the tune stentorian, and the politics which enlisted the song unattractive - tempt every nerve in me, touch the bone with a cold burn and draw me into God knows what infidelities to reason, each time I hear the song, and hear it, uncalled for, recurrent inside me.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Steiner" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/cheap-music-childish-images-the-vulgate-in-language-in-its-crassest/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/622/george-steiner-4683_bars_cheap-music-childish-images-the-vulgate_2290818.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/622/george-steiner-4683_bars_cheap-music-childish-images-the-vulgate_2290818.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/622/george-steiner-4683_bars_cheap-music-childish-images-the-vulgate_2290818.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Cheap music, childish images, the vulgate in language, in its crassest sense, can penetrate to the deeps of…” — George Steiner", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 29, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If future society assumes the contours foretold by Marxism, if the jungle of our cities turns to the polis of man and the dreams of anger are made real, the representative art will be high comedy. 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The concept of allusion or analogue is totally inadequate. To Dante these other texts are the organic context of identity. 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This is an open secret which hermeneutics and aesthetics, from Aristotle to Croce, have laboured to exorcise or to conceal from themselves and their clients. 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An energised field of association and connotation, of overtones and undertones, of rebus and homophone, surround its motion, and break from it in the context of collision .. in Western poetry so much of the charged substance is previous poetry.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Steiner" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/the-poet-s-discourse-can-be-compared-to-the-track-of-a-charged/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f72/george-steiner-4683_association_the-poet-s-discourse-can-be-compared-to_1388198.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f72/george-steiner-4683_association_the-poet-s-discourse-can-be-compared-to_1388198.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f72/george-steiner-4683_association_the-poet-s-discourse-can-be-compared-to_1388198.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The poet's discourse can be compared to the track of a charged particle through a cloud-chamber. 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