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John Dos Passos QUOTES

John Dos Passos QUOTES

1 " But you’re out of another world old kid … You ought to live on top of the Woolworth Building in an apartment made of cutglass and cherry blossoms. "

― John Dos Passos

2 " Men are under as strong a compulsion to invent an ethical setting for their behavior as spiders are to weave themselves webs. "

― John Dos Passos

3 " Do you know how long God took to destroy the Tower of Babel, folks? Seven minutes. Do you know how long the Lord God took to destroy Babylon and Nineveh? Seven minutes. There’s more wickedness in one block in New York City than there was in a square mile in Nineveh, and how long do you think the Lord God of Sabboath will take to destroy New York City and Brooklyn and the Bronx? Seven seconds. Seven Seconds. "

― John Dos Passos , Manhattan Transfer

4 " y. I told them to admire us for the hope we still have
that there is enough goodness in man to use the omnipotence science has
given him to ennoble his life on earth instead of degrading it. Self government,
through dangers and distortions and failures, is the American
cause. Faith in self government, when all is said and done, is faith in the
eventual goodness of man "

― John Dos Passos

5 " Then all at once he´d hear his own voice enunciating clearly and firmly, feel its reverberance along the walls and ceiling, feel ears growing tense, men and women leaning forward in their chairs, see the rows of faces quite clearly, the groups of people who couldn´t find seats crowding at the doors. Phrases like `protest, massaction, united working-class of this country and the world, revolution´, would light up the eyes and faces under him like the glare of a bonfire. "

― John Dos Passos , 1919 (U.S.A., #2)

6 " There was Babylon and Nineveh; they were built of brick. Athens was gold marble columns. Rome was held up on broad arches of rubble. In Constantinople the minarets flame like great candles round the Golden Horn… Steel, glass, tile, concrete will be the materials of the skyscraper. Crammed on the narrow island the millionwindowed buildings will just glittering, pyramid on pyramid like the white cloudhead above a thunderstorm. "

― John Dos Passos , Manhattan Transfer

7 " It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.

"

― John Dos Passos

8 " A novel is a commodity that fulfills a certain need; people need to buy daydreams like they need to buy ice cream or aspirin or gin. They even need to buy a pinch of intellectual catnip now and then to liven up their thoughts... "

― John Dos Passos , Novels, 1920-1925: One Man's Initiation: 1917 / Three Soldiers / Manhattan Transfer

9 " The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in the armour of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error." -John Dos Passos "

― John Dos Passos , The 42nd Parallel (U.S.A., #1)

10 " The young man walks by himself, fast but not fast enough, far but not far enough (faces slide out of sight, talk trails into tattered scraps, footsteps tap fainter in alleys); he must catch the last subway, the streetcar, the bus, run up the gangplanks of all the steamboats, register at all the hotels, work in the cities, answer the wantads, learn the trades, take up the jobs, live in all the boardinghouses, sleep in all the beds. One bed is not enough, one job is not enough, one life is not enough. At night, head swimming with wants, he walks by himself alone. "

― John Dos Passos , The 42nd Parallel (U.S.A., #1)

11 " ... life is to be used, not just held in the hand like a box of bonbons that nobody eats. "

― John Dos Passos , Three Soldiers

12 " self respect. self reliance. self control. "

― John Dos Passos , The Big Money (U.S.A., #3)

13 " With people who are young and aren't scared you can do lots. "

― John Dos Passos , One Man's Initiation: 1917

14 " While there is a lower class I am of it, while there is a criminal class I am of it, while there is a soul in prison I am not free. "

― John Dos Passos , The 42nd Parallel (U.S.A., #1)

15 " The rich were getting richer, the poor were getting poorer, small farmers were being squeezed out, workingmen were working twelve hours a day for a bare living; profits were for the rich, the law was for the rich, the cops were for the rich; "

― John Dos Passos , 1919 (U.S.A., #2)

16 " One phrase stuck in Fainy’s mind, and he repeated it to himself after he had gone to bed that night: It is time for all honest men to band together to resist the ravages of greedy privilege. "

― John Dos Passos , The 42nd Parallel (U.S.A., #1)

17 " The terrible thing about having New York go stale on you is that there's nowhere else. It's the top of the world. "

― John Dos Passos , Manhattan Transfer

18 " all right we are two nations "

― John Dos Passos , The Big Money (U.S.A., #3)

19 " Why, lies are like a sticky juice overspreading the world, a living, growing flypaper to catch and gum the wings of every human soul. . . And the little helpless buzzings of honest, liberal, kindly people, aren't they like the thin little noise flies make when they're caught? "

― John Dos Passos , One Man's Initiation: 1917

20 " So many Americans felt that their neighbor had no right to know more than they did. "

― John Dos Passos , Midcentury