Most assuredly Zen is a religion, but it is a religion without scripture, without doctrine or dogma and without sin. Howard Fast More Quotes by Howard Fast More Quotes From Howard Fast I am a man of peace [so he told Mother, but it always appeared to me that he was the most belligerent man of peace I had ever encountered] Howard Fast mother men Either you get a chance to be a kid when you are a kid, or you don't grow up. Howard Fast growing-up chance kids A mountain still in the distance can appear as a molehill. Howard Fast mountain distance stills The dignity is in the worker, not in the job. Howard Fast dignity inspiring jobs Only people who suffer show the ravages of age. Howard Fast suffering age people Yiddish for gall, nerve, arrogance-whatever Howard Fast yiddish nerves arrogance And finally, be assured that Zen asks nothing even as it promises nothing. One can be a Protestant Zen Buddhist, a Catholic Zen Buddhist or a Jewish Zen Buddhist. Zen is a quiet thing. It listens. Howard Fast buddhist catholic promise Since I believe that a person's philosophical point of view has little meaning if it is not matched by being and action, I found myself willingly wed to an endless series of unpopular causes, experiences which I feel enriched my writing as much as they depleted other aspects of my life. Howard Fast my-life myself life believe I was part of a generation that believed in socialism and finally found that belief corroded and destroyed. That is not renouncing Communism or socialism. It's reaching a certain degree of enlightenment about what the Soviet Union practices. Howard Fast generation socialism communism belief To be dogmatic about a cause you believe in at the age of 20 or 30 is not unusual. But to be dogmatic at age 55 or 60 shows a lack of any learning capacity. Howard Fast you learning age believe The only thing that infuriates me is that I have more unwritten stories in me than I can conceivably write in a lifetime. Howard Fast more only me i-can Like most thoughtful people who watch what's going on in Washington, venting is very necessary. Howard Fast going like thoughtful people Americans have no sense of history. And not much memory. They don't remember what happened yesterday. Howard Fast memory yesterday remember history I was in federal prison in West Virginia for three months for contempt of Congress for a refusing to comply with a request of a Congressional committee of Congress, the House Un-American Activities Committee. Howard Fast congress three prison house After the Spanish Civil War against Franco, a group of us got together: a group of well-to-do people who were sympathetic to the lost cause of a Republican state. We bought a convent in Toulouse and converted it into a hospital run by the Unitarians. It took care of the Spanish refugees who fled to Toulouse. Howard Fast care together war people My books were attacked constantly by the Communist Party for not hewing to the Party line. I have never hewed to a Party line of any kind. Howard Fast books never communist party I always thought that socialism here would be peculiarly American, with some reasonable, post-industrial evolution between working-class needs and market forces. It won't be bloody like the Russian Revolution. Howard Fast thought always socialism revolution A man who will traduce those who stood with him in battle is not worth much. Howard Fast worth will man battle In L.A., you work like hell because there is nothing else to do, unless you're cheating on your wife. Howard Fast you wife work cheating A critic is a eunuch working in a harem. He watches it, but he knows he can't do it. Critics very often are failed writers and, like failed priests, they hate religion. Howard Fast like hate watches religion
