It is one of the major tragedies that nothing is more discomforting than the hearty affection of the Old Friends who never were friends.
SINCLAIR LEWISUpon this theology he rarely pondered. The kernel of his practical religion was that it was respectable, and beneficial to one’s business, to be seen going to services; that the church kept the Worst Elements from being still worse.
More Sinclair Lewis Quotes
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I have for myself no conceivable complaint to make, and yet for American literature in general, and its standing in a country where industrialism and finance and science flourish and the only arts that are vital and respected are architecture and the film, I have a considerable complaint.
SINCLAIR LEWIS -
The game (baseball)was a custom of his clan, and it gave outlet for the homicidal and sides-taking instincts which Babbitt called “patriotism” and “love of sport.”
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Funny how the world always praises its opera-singers so much and pays ’em so well and then starves its shoemakers, and yet it needs good shoes so much more than it needs opera–or war or fiction.
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And that the pastor’s sermons, however dull they might seem at the time of taking, yet had a voodooistic power which ‘did a fellow good– kept him in touch with Higher Things.
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The greatest mystery about a human being is not his reaction to sex or praise, but the manner in which he contrives to put in twenty-four hours a day. It is this which puzzles the longshoreman about the clerk, the Londoner about the bushman.
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It is impossible to discourage the real writers – they don’t give a damn what you say, they’re going to write.
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Writers have a rare power not given to anyone else: we can bore people long after we are dead.
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In protest, I declined election to the National Institute of Arts and Letters some years ago, and now I must decline the Pulitzer Prize.
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When fascism comes to the United States it will be wrapped in the American flag and will claim the name of 100-percent Americanism
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Since dictating the Bible, and hiring a perfect race of ministers to explain it,
SINCLAIR LEWIS -
Writing is just work-there’s no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type with your toes-it is just work.
SINCLAIR LEWIS -
When audiences come to see us authors lecture, it is largely in the hope that we’ll be funnier to look at than to read.
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Under a tyranny, most friends are a liability. One quarter of them turn “reasonable” and become your enemies.
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Upon this theology he rarely pondered. The kernel of his practical religion was that it was respectable, and beneficial to one’s business, to be seen going to services; that the church kept the Worst Elements from being still worse.
SINCLAIR LEWIS -
Winter is not a season in the North Middlewest; it is an industry.
SINCLAIR LEWIS