Ordinary' is a word I loathe. It has a patronizing air. I have come across ordinary people who have done extraordinary things. Studs Terkel More Quotes by Studs Terkel More Quotes From Studs Terkel Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying. Studs Terkel friday dying monday How come you don't work fourteen hours a day? Your great-great-grandparents did. How come you only work the eight-hour day? Four guys got hanged fighting for the eight-hour day for you. Studs Terkel eight fighting work 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. Studs Terkel alzheimers memories country Heroes are not giant statues framed against a red sky. They are people who say: This is my community, and it is my responsibility to make it better. Interweave all these communities and you really have an America that is back on its feet again. I really think we are gonna have to reassess what constitutes a 'hero'. Studs Terkel responsibility hero thinking Most of us have jobs that are too small for our spirits. Studs Terkel vision spirit jobs Ordinary people are capable of doing extraordinary things, and that's what it's all about. They must count. Studs Terkel capable ordinary people Think of what's stored in an 80- or a 90-year-old mind. Just marvel at it. You've got to get out this information, this knowledge, because you've got something to pass on. There'll be nobody like you ever again. Make the most of every molecule you've got as long as you've got a second to go. Studs Terkel years knowledge thinking I want people to talk to one another no matter what their difference of opinion might be. Studs Terkel differences want people Having been blacklisted from working in television during the McCarthy era, I know the harm of government using private corporations to intrude into the lives of innocent Americans. When government uses the telephone companies to create massive databases of all our phone calls it has gone too far. Studs Terkel phones government gone More and more we are into communications; and less and less into communication. Studs Terkel communication Work is a search for daily meaning Studs Terkel daily-bread wells bread Reading a book should not be a passive exercise, but rather a raucous conversation. Studs Terkel reading exercise book Hope never trickles down. It always springs up. Studs Terkel trickle-down spring To survive the day is triumph enough for the walking wounded among the great many of us. Studs Terkel triumph survival enough The trouble with censorship is that once it starts it is hard to stop. Just about every book contains something that someone objects to. Studs Terkel censorship trouble book That's what we're missing. We're missing argument. We're missing debate. We're missing colloquy. We're missing all sorts of things. Instead, we're accepting. Studs Terkel debate argument missing-you I read somewhere that when a person takes part in community action, his health improves. Something happens to him or to her biologically. It's like a tonic. Studs Terkel health community action What I bring to the interview is respect. The person recognizes that you respect them because you're listening. Because you're listening, they feel good about talking to you. When someone tells me a thing that happened, what do I feel inside? I want to get the story out. It's for the person who reads it to have the feeling . . . In most cases the person I encounter is not a celebrity; rather the ordinary person. "Ordinary" is a word I loathe. It has a patronizing air. I have come across ordinary people who have done extraordinary things. (p. 176) Studs Terkel air talking people I want, of course, peace, grace, and beauty. How do you do that? You work for it. Studs Terkel grace want beauty I find labels "liberal" and "conservative" of little meaning. Our language has become perverted along with the thoughts of many of us. Studs Terkel labels perspective littles
