“Sure of itself, it bullies other civilizations, as a traveling salesman in a brown derby conquers the wisdom of China and tacks advertisements of cigarettes over arches for centuries dedicated to the sayings of Confucius.”

Sleep with me sleep with my dogs-

The cocktail filled him with a whirling exhilaration behind which he was aware of devastating desires-to rush places in fast motors, to kiss girls, to sing, to be witty. … He perceived that he had gifts of profligacy which had been neglected. -chapter 8

NOW is a fact that cannot be dodged.

It is, I think, an error to believe that there is any need of religion to make life seem worth living.

When fascism comes to the United States it will be wrapped in the American flag and will claim the name of 100-percent Americanism

Think of how many are arrested for selling fake stock, for seducing 14-year-old girls in orphanages under their care, for arson, for murder.

On the whole, with scandalous exceptions, Democracy has given the ordinary worker more dignity than he ever had.

It might be the doing of Satan, in whom Aaron anxiously believed with all of his being except, perhaps, his mind.

That nation is proudest and noblest and most exalted which has the greatest number of really great men.

Men die, but the plutocracy is immortal; and it is necessary that fresh generations should be trained to its service.

It’s one of our favorite American myths that broad plains necessarily make broad minds, and high mountains make high purpose.

In fact, the whole thing about prohibition is this: it isn’t the initial cost, it’s the humidity.

It has not yet been recorded that any human being has gained a very large or permanent contentment from meditation upon the fact that he is better off than others.

I am convinced that everything that is worth while in the world has been accomplished by the free, inquiring, critical spirit, and that the preservation of this spirit is more important than any social system whatsoever.

Fine, large, meaningless, general terms like romance and business can always be related. They take the place of thinking, and are highly useful to optimists and lecturers.

You’ve been telling us about how to secure peace, but come on, now, General-just among us Rotarians and Rotary Anns-‘fess up!

Though we love to think that we are civilized & developed than that of people lived centuries ago.

Twentieth-century culture’s disease is the inability to feel their reality.

While it is unlikely that poetry or art shall eliminate the reality of war in the twenty-first century, it is thrilling to know there remain individuals, and even entire communities,

His [Ben Okri’s] work poses very serious questions for the twenty-first century. Among them:

Still willing to invest in art and poetry’s own uniquely explosive contributions to the great, and small, dramas of human history.

Composers can do things that weren’t allowed in the 17th century. Until we had composers like Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Rachmaninoff to break the rules.

I had casually rented an apartment that cost $75 a month because I expected my writing to pay my way.

The mighty edifice of Government science dominated the scene in the middle of the 20th century as a Gothic cathedral dominated a 13th century landscape. The work of many hands over many years, it universally inspired admiration, wonder and fear.