To a true-blue professor of literature in an American university, literature is not something that a plain human being, living today, painfully sits down to produce. No; it is something dead. Sinclair Lewis More Quotes by Sinclair Lewis More Quotes From Sinclair Lewis Cure the evils of Democracy by the evils of Fascism! Funny therapeutics! I've heard of their curing syphilis by giving the patient malaria, but I've never heard of their curing malaria by giving the patient syphilis. Sinclair Lewis democracyevilgiving People read fiction for emotion-not information Sinclair Lewis informationpeoplefiction We'd get sick on too many cookies, but ever so much sicker on no cookies at all. Sinclair Lewis cookiessick Winter is not a season, it's an occupation. Sinclair Lewis occupationwinterinspirational A village in a country which is taking pains to become altogether standardized and pure, which aspires to succeed Victorian England as the chief mediocrity of the world, is no longer merely provincial, no longer downy and restful in its leaf-shadowed ignorance. It is a force seeking to conquer the earth. Sure of itself, it bullies other civilizations, as a traveling salesman in a brown derby conquers the wisdom of China and tacks advertisements of cigarettes over arches for centuries dedicated to the sayings of Confucius. Sinclair Lewis painignorancecountry You," Said Dr. Yavitch, "are a middle-road liberal, and you haven't the slightest idea what you want. I, being a revolutionist, know exactly what I want -- and what I want now is a drink. Sinclair Lewis drswantideas A man takes a drink, the drink takes another, and the drink takes the man. Sinclair Lewis cookingfoodmen She did her work with the thoroughness of a mind which reveres details and never quite understands them. Sinclair Lewis thoroughnessdetailsmind Writers kid themselves-about themselves and other people. Take the talk about writing methods. Writing is just work-there's no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type with your toes-it is just work. Sinclair Lewis writingkidspeople Writing is just work-there's no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type or write with your toes-it's still just work. Sinclair Lewis usesecretwriting The world and all its wisdom is but a booby, blundering school-boy that needs management and could be managed, if men and women would be human beings instead of just business men, or plumbers, or army officers, or commuters, or educators, or authors, or clubwomen, or traveling salesmen, or Socialists, or Republicans, or Salvation Army leaders, or wearers of cloths. Sinclair Lewis armyboysschool Upon this theology he rarely pondered. The kernel of his practical religion was that it was respectable, and beneficial to one's business, to be seen going to services; that the church kept the Worst Elements from being still worse; and that the pastor's sermons, however dull they might seem at the time of taking, yet had a voodooistic power which 'did a fellow good-- kept him in touch with Higher Things. Sinclair Lewis elementschurchpast What is Love? Listen! It is the rainbow that stands out, in all its glorious many-colored hues, illuminating and making glad again the dark clouds of life. It is the morning and the evening star, that in glad refulgence, there on the awed horizon, call Nature's hearts to an uplifted rejoicing in God's marvelous firmament! Sinclair Lewis good-morningstarslove Pugnacity is a form of courage, but a very bad form. Sinclair Lewis formcourage She was snatched back from a dream of far countries, and found herself on Main Street. Sinclair Lewis main-streetdreamcountry Except for half a dozen in each town the citizens are proud of that achievement of ignorance which is so easy to come by. To be 'intellectual' or 'artistic' or, in their own word, to be 'highbrow,' is to be priggish and of dubious virtue. Sinclair Lewis achievementignoranceintellectual Curiously, neither God nor the devil may wear modern dress, but must retain Grecian vestments. Sinclair Lewis devildressesmay When audiences come to see us authors lecture, it is largely in the hope that we'll be funnier to look at than to read. Sinclair Lewis audiencelectureslooks You're so earnest about morality that I hate to think how essentially immoral you must be underneath. Sinclair Lewis moralityhatethinking Our American professors like their literature clear and cold and pure and very dead. Sinclair Lewis coldliteratureeducation
