Trivial Theory

Famous quotes containing the words trivial and/or theory:

    Oh, blank confusion! true epitome
    Of what the mighty city is herself,
    To thousands upon thousands of her sons,
    Living amid the same perpetual whirl
    Of trivial objects, melted and reduced
    To one identity, by differences
    That have no law, no meaning, and no end—
    William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

    A theory of the middle class: that it is not to be determined by its financial situation but rather by its relation to government. That is, one could shade down from an actual ruling or governing class to a class hopelessly out of relation to government, thinking of gov’t as beyond its control, of itself as wholly controlled by gov’t. Somewhere in between and in gradations is the group that has the sense that gov’t exists for it, and shapes its consciousness accordingly.
    Lionel Trilling (1905–1975)