Studs Terkel Quotations | Page 2

It is still the arena of those who dream of the City of Man and those who envision a City of Things. The battle appears to be forever joined. The armies, ignorant and enlightened, clash by day as well as night. Chicago is America's dream, writ large. And flamboyantly.

My doctors were of one mind: unless something was immediately done, I had maybe six months to live. A quintuple bypass was suggested. Quintuple! I was impressed, though somewhat disturbed because I was in the middle of work on a new book.

The trouble with censorship is that once it starts it is hard to stop. Just about every book contains something that someone objects to.

The answer is to say 'No!' to authority when authority is wrong.

For the next century, we've got to put together what we so carelessly tore apart with so little concern for those who were gonna follow us. ... You've got to sound off.

We hear the term independent contractors in Iraq. Independent contractors? Mercenaries!

We are living in the United States of Alzheimer's. A whole country has lost its memory. When it can't remember yesterday, a country forgets what it once wanted to be.

Chicago is not the most corrupt American city. It's the most theatrically corrupt.

There are nascent stirrings in the neighborhood and in the field, articulated by non-celebrated people who bespeak the dreams of their fellows. It may be catching. Unfortunately, it is not covered on the six o'clock news.

I hope for peace and sanity - it's the same thing.