"Humankind struggles with collective powers for its freedom, the individual struggles with dehumanization for the possession of his soul."
"Can we find nothing good to say about TV? Well, yes, it brings scattered solitaries into a sort of communion. TV allows your isolated American to think that he participates in the life of the entire country. It does not actually place him in a community, but his heart is warmed with the suggestion (on the whole false) that there is a community somewhere in the vicinity and that his atomized consciousness will be drawn back toward the whole."
3 likes
Source: Saul Bellow (2016). “It All Adds Up: From the Dim Past to the Uncertain Future”, p.141, Odyssey Editions
About the author
Same author
More quotes by Saul Bellow
"A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
"There are evils that have the ability to survive identification and go on for ever... money, for instance, or war."
"Associate with the noblest people you can find; read the best books; live with the mighty; but learn to be happy alone."
"I am a phoenix who runs after arsonists."
"You can spend the entire second half of your life recovering from the mistakes of the first half."