Roman/literature

Famous quotes containing the words roman and/or literature:

    Brutus. Now, as you are a Roman, tell me true.
    Messala. Then like a Roman bear the truth I tell,
    For certain she is dead, and by strange manner.
    Brutus. Why, farewell, Portia. We must die, Messala.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    The function of literature, through all its mutations, has been to make us aware of the particularity of selves, and the high authority of the self in its quarrel with its society and its culture. Literature is in that sense subversive.
    Lionel Trilling (1905–1975)