"The poet may be used as a barometer, but let us not forget that he is also part of the weather." ― Lionel Trilling Topic(s): Politics More From Lionel Trilling "We are all ill: but even a universal sickness implies an idea of health." "Probably it is impossible for humor to be ever a revolutionary weapon. Candide can do little more than generate irony." "There is no connection between the political ideas of our educated class and the deep places of the imagination." More In Politics "Politics are a very unsatisfactory game."― Henry Adams "I have a certain pool of subject matter that I like to write about, things that interest me: politics, religion, ecology, and relationships between men and women. And that’s usually what I focus on."― Don Henley "Of course there are regrets. I shall regret always that I found my own authentic voice in politics. I was too conservative, too conventional. Too safe, too often. Too defensive. Too reactive. Later, too often on the back foot."― John Major