The first thing brought forth by the study of any religion, ancient or modern, is that it is based upon Fear, born of it, fed by it — and that it cultivates the source from which its nourishment is derived. Upton Sinclair More Quotes by Upton Sinclair More Quotes From Upton Sinclair It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. Upton Sinclair wisdommenpeople It is foolish to be convinced without evidence, but it is equally foolish to refuse to be convinced by real evidence. Upton Sinclair evidencerealfoolish You don't have to be satisfied with America as you find it. You can change it. I didn't like the way I found America some sixty years ago, and I've been trying to change it ever since. Upton Sinclair tryingamericayears Journalism is one of the devices whereby industrial autocracy keeps its control over political democracy; it is the day-by-day, between-elections propaganda, whereby the minds of the people are kept in a state of acquiescence, so that when the crisis of an election comes, they go to the polls and cast their ballots for either one of the two candidates of their exploiters. Upton Sinclair politicaltwopeople I don't know whether anyone will care to examine my heart, but if they do, they will find two words there- 'social justice.' For that is what I have believed in and fought for. Upton Sinclair justicehearttwo One of the necessary accompaniments of capitalism in a democracy is political corruption. Upton Sinclair democracycorruptionpolitical I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach. Upton Sinclair beerheartbook The private control of credit is the modern form of slavery. Upton Sinclair modernslaverycredit The American People will take Socialism, but they won't take the label. I certainly proved it in the case of EPIC [End Poverty in California]. Running on the Socialist ticket I got 60,000 votes, and running on the slogan to 'End Poverty in California' I got 879,000. I think we simply have to recognize the fact that our enemies have succeeded in spreading the Big Lie. There is no use attacking it by a front attack, it is much better to out-flank them. Upton Sinclair epicrunninglying When the masters of industry pay such sums for a newspaper, they buy not merely the building and the presses and the name; they buy what they call the "good-will"- that is, they buy you. And they proceed to change your whole psychology - everything that you believe about life. You might object to it, if you knew; but they do their work so subtly that you never guess what is happening to you! Upton Sinclair medianamesbelieve Fascism is capitalism plus murder. Upton Sinclair tyrantsplusmurder You can't make somebody understand something if their salary depends upon them not understanding it. Upton Sinclair salarydependsunderstanding Into this wild-beast tangle these men had been born without their consent, they had taken part in it because they could not help it; that they were in jail was no disgrace to them, for the game had never been fair, the dice were loaded. They were swindlers and thieves of pennies and dimes, and they had been trapped and put out of the way by the swindlers and thieves of millions of dollars. Upton Sinclair takengamesmen The supreme crime of the church to-day is that everywhere and in all its operations and influences it is on the side of sloth of mind; that it banishes brains, it sanctifies stupidity, it canonizes incompetence. Upton Sinclair stupidityslothbrain Consider Christmas - could Satan in his most malignant mood have devised a worse combination of graft plus bunkum than the system whereby several hundred million people get a billion or so gifts for which they have no use, and some thousands of shop clerks die of exhaustion while selling them, and every other child in the Western world is made ill from overeating - all in the name of the lowly Jesus? Upton Sinclair religiouschildrenjesus The remedy [for the Great Depression] is to give the workers access to the means of production, and let them produce for themselves, not for others, . . . the American way. Upton Sinclair givingmeanway All truly great art is optimistic. The individual artist is happy in his creative work. The fact that practically all great art is tragic does not in any way change the above thesis. Upton Sinclair optimisticcreativeart Man is an evasive beast, given to cultivating strange notions about himself. He is humiliated by his simian ancestry, and tries to deny his animal nature, to persuade himself that he is not limited by its weaknesses nor concerned in its fate. And this impulse may be harmless, when it is genuine. But what are we to say when we see the formulas of heroic self-deception made use of by unheroic self-indulgence? Upton Sinclair fateanimalmen Pessimism is mental disease. It means illness in the person who voices it, and in the society which produces that person. Upton Sinclair voicediseasemean Man is an evasive beast, given to cultivating strange notions about himself. Upton Sinclair beaststrangemen
