One reason the human race has such a low opinion of itself is that it gets so much of its wisdom from writers. Wilfrid Sheed More Quotes by Wilfrid Sheed More Quotes From Wilfrid Sheed As you approach the presidency, no one seems worthy of it, since it wasn't designed for a human in the first place. Wilfrid Sheed approach worthy firsts The 1930s - a Golden Age for American humor, mainly because everything else was going so badly. The wisecrack was the basic American sentence because there were so many things that could not be said any other way. Wilfrid Sheed golden age way Suicide is about life, being in fact the sincerest form of criticism life gets. Wilfrid Sheed criticism suicide death Every writer is a writer of the generation before. Wilfrid Sheed generations For Catholics before Vatican II, the land of the free was pre-eminently the land of Sister Says-except, of course, for Sister, for whom it was the land of Father Says. Wilfrid Sheed catholic land father I picked up the writing on the very day he died. It was the only consolation I could find. Wilfrid Sheed died consolation writing Even the God of Calvin never judged anyone as harshly as married couples judge each other. Wilfrid Sheed marriage couple judging The spiritual life becomes very simple when you're sick. Wilfrid Sheed sick simple spiritual Censors will try to censor a little bit more each year (because, like editors and other officious people, censors don't feel they are getting anywhere unless they are up and doing). Wilfrid Sheed editors people years Unlike most wars, which make rotten fiction in themselves - all plot and no characters, or made-up characters - Vietnam seems to be the perfect mix: the characters make the war, and the war unmakes the characters. The gods, fates, furies had a relatively small hand in it. The mess was man-made, a synthetic, by think tank out of briefing session. Wilfrid Sheed fate character war It's the old case against symbols: if you get them, they seem obvious and artificial, and if you don't, you miss the whole point. Wilfrid Sheed obvious cases missing How does one make a movie about decadence these days? Now that we're allowed to do it, it's too late. Wilfrid Sheed decadence doe too-late It is possible that the malice of writers has been overrated (by myself among others). Reading their ruminations on their craft, one sees why this writer could not possibly like that one, would indeed consider him a menace. Literature is a battleground of conflicting faiths, and nobler passions than envy are involved. Wilfrid Sheed envy passion reading Beware the fictionist writing his own life. Even candor becomes a strategy. Wilfrid Sheed candor strategy writing The actual Irish weather report is really a recording made in 1922, which no one has had occasion to change. "Scattered showers, periods of sunshine." Wilfrid Sheed sunshine made weather Mushy reviews are a breach of faith Wilfrid Sheed breach reviews Scott Fitzgerald is a sound you like to hear at certain times of the day, say at four in the afternoon and again late at night, and at other times it makes you slightly sick. Wilfrid Sheed scott-fitzgerald sick night