Books are not men and yet they are alive. Stephen Vincent Benet More Quotes by Stephen Vincent Benet More Quotes From Stephen Vincent Benet Whatever poetry that was in me was coming out in the form of constructing art books! Stephen Vincent Benet coming-out book art Occasionally I encounter people getting into their cars who will say, "Oh, you haven't been walking lately" - like I'm a symbol of the ancient art of walking! Stephen Vincent Benet car people art When my own writing needs a perk, I open Zukofsky and read from "A" - particularly sections "22" and "23." It can be opaque, but I love the intensity. Stephen Vincent Benet opaque writing needs Honesty rare as a man without self-pity, kinders as large and plain as a prairie wind. Stephen Vincent Benet It is hard to put aside partisanship. It is hard to give up the easy wisecracking jeer that divides and destroys. It is hard - very hard - to have worked sincerely and wholeheartedly for a cause and to have lost. Most of all, it is hard to put aside personal prejudices. And yet we must put these things aside. Stephen Vincent Benet personal things easy lost You call my candidate a horse thief, and I call yours a lunatic, and we both of us know it's just till election day. It's an American custom, like eating corn on the cob. And, afterwards, we settle down quite peaceably and agree we've got a pretty good country - until next election. Stephen Vincent Benet day good you eating Truth is a hard deer to hunt. If you eat too much truth at once, you may die of the truth. Stephen Vincent Benet die you truth-is truth Let us be bold enough and free enough to follow the great examples - the men of good will and honor who put aside little ways and petty hatreds to build the American dream. Stephen Vincent Benet great good american-dream men There are many trials that seem hard to bear at first which prove true blessings later when we see of what false materials they were first composed. Stephen Vincent Benet blessings true see prove I have fallen in love with American names, the sharp names that never get fat. Stephen Vincent Benet fat american never love A man with a mouth like a mastiff, a brow like a mountain, and eyes like burning antracite - that was Dan'l Webster in his prime. Stephen Vincent Benet mouth eyes man mountain Yes, Dan'l Webster's dead - or, at least, they buried him. But every time there's a thunderstorm around Marshfield, they say you can hear his rolling voice in the hollows of the sky. Stephen Vincent Benet you voice sky time Treat a boy like a fool and he'll act like a fool, I say, but there's some folks need convincing. Stephen Vincent Benet treat boy say fool You work hard, and you'll rise. But, if you've got any foolish notions, just knock them on the head and forget them. Stephen Vincent Benet work-hard you work forget You can't depend on the kind of folks people think they are - you've got to go by what they do. And I wouldn't give much for a man that some folks hadn't thought was a fool, in his time. Stephen Vincent Benet you man time people We can no longer take our own way of life for granted - we know that it may be challenged. And we know this, too - and know it ever more deeply - we know that freedom and democracy are not just big words mouthed by orators but the rain and the wind and the sun, the air and the light by which we breathe and live. Stephen Vincent Benet freedom light rain life We cannot be a house divided - divided in will, divided in interest, divided in soul. We cannot be a house divided and live. Stephen Vincent Benet live will soul house We cannot afford the creeping paralysis that destroys the effective will of democracy - the paralysis carried by hate and rancor, between class and class, person and person, party and party, as plague is carried through the streets of a town. Stephen Vincent Benet will democracy party hate Let each one of us say, 'I am an American. I intend to stay an American. I will do my best to wipe from my heart hate, rancor and political prejudice. I will sustain my government. And, through good days or bad, I will try to serve my country.' Stephen Vincent Benet i-am best good heart You can't do business with a man who doesn't know the meaning of a contract. You can't do business with a firm who swears they'll do one thing one day and does just the opposite the next. You can't do business with a company who takes your goods on a cash basis and then pays you off in bum harmonicas. Stephen Vincent Benet day you man business
