A Quote by Lionel Trilling

We live, understandably enough, with the sense of urgency; our clock, like Baudelaire's, has had the hands removed and bears the legend, "It is later than you think." But with us it is always a little too late for mind, yet never too late for honest stupidity; always a little too late for understanding, never too late for righteous, bewildered wrath; always too late for thought, never too late for naïve moralizing. We seem to like to condemn our finest but not our worst qualities by pitting them against the exigency of time.

Lionel Trilling

Quote Topics

Against Always Baudelaire Bears Bewildered Clock Condemn Enough Finest Had Hands Honest Late Later Legend Like Little Live Mind Moralizing Never Never Too Late Our Qualities Righteous Seem Sense Sense Of Urgency Stupidity Than Them Think Thought Time Too Too Late Understanding Urgency Us Worst Wrath

Quote Author

Lionel Trilling
American - Critic
July 4, 1905 - November 5, 1975

I thought that if the right time gets missed, if one has refused or been refused something for too long, it's too late, even if it is finally tackled with energy and received with joy. Or is there no such thing as "too late"? Is there only "late," and is "late" always better than "never"? I don't know.

Bernhard Schlink

The absolute negative, the ultimate saying of no to the world, when it is just too late. And always the subtle conviction that if you had said No a moment earlier, it would none of it have happened. But the saying of no comes too late by a little. You are always a little too late in saying it.

Don Berry

That’s why you have to write your book right now, if that’s what you want to do. If you wait until you have the time, and the security, you might not want to do it. You’re in a race against your own enthusiasm. Don’t put it off because someone told you it’s never too late. That’s the worst lie. It’s never too late today, but it’s often too late tomorrow.

Stephen Elliott

It's not the side-effects of the cocaine - I'm thinking that it must be love. It's too late to be grateful, It's too late to be hateful, It's too late to be late again, The European cannon is here.

David Bowie

Or is there no such thing as 'too late'? Is there only 'late' and is 'late' always better than 'never'? I don't know.

Bernhard Schlink

And it was too late. No one wants to believe something is too late, but it is always becoming too late, and then it is.

Elizabeth Strout

I continue to be amazed by our bodies' ability for self-repair. ... Our bodies want to be healthy, if we would just let them. That's what these new research articles are showing: Even after years of beating yourself up with a horrible diet, your body can reverse the damage, open back up the arteries-even reverse the progression of some cancers. Amazing! So it's never too late to start exercising, never too late to stop smoking and never too late to start eating healthier.

Michael Greger

The language "it's too late" is very unsuitable for most environmental issues. It's too late for the dodo and for people who've starved to death already, but it's not too late to prevent an even bigger crisis. The sooner we act on the environment, the better.

Jeremy Grantham

The language 'It's too late' is very unsuitable for most environmental issues. It's too late for the dodo and for people who've starved to death already, but it's not too late to prevent an even bigger crisis. The sooner we act on the environment, the better.

Jeremy Grantham

It's never too late to start. It's always too late to wait.

Jeff Olson

Too much, too little, too late, to ever try again. Too much, too little, too late, let's end it being friends.

Johnny Mathis

I have tried," I said, "but he does not believe me. It is too late for that now" (it is always too late for truth, I thought).

Jean Rhys

Life is insanely robust, though we can make species go extinct, and this is the bad thing. So I always make the point that you can't say, 'Is it too late?' That is the terrible question, because either answer promotes inaction. If it's too late, you don't need to act; if it's not too late, you don't need to act.

Kim Stanley Robinson

This is the problem of all great revelations: their significance so often exceeds the frame of our comprehension. We understand only after, always after. Not simply when it is too late, but precisely because it is too late.