When one of a culture's guiding credos is that "all men are created equal," any person who, say, becomes an expert on, say, nuclear weapons or, say, ecology, i.e., anyone who distinguishes himself through mental excellence, is a nuisance. Sarah Vowell More Quotes by Sarah Vowell More Quotes From Sarah Vowell I loved that these two guys argued with each other as if movies actually mattered. Nobody I knew talked about movies that way, but Siskel and Ebert took each movie as it came and talked about whether it was a success on its own terms. Sarah Vowell movie guy two Like Lincoln, I would like to believe the ballot is stronger than the bullet. Then again, he said that before he got shot. Sarah Vowell bullets stronger believe Being a nerd, which is to say going too far and caring too much about a subject, is the best way to make friends I know. Sarah Vowell nerd too-much caring I have a similar affection for the parenthesis (but I always take most of my parentheses out, so as not to call undue attention to the glaring fact that I cannot think in complete sentences, that I think only in short fragments or long, run-on thought relays that the literati call stream of consciousness but I still like to think of as disdain for the finality of the period). Sarah Vowell running long thinking However, displayed right alongside all the Confederate flag paraphernalia is a bunch of American flag merch – American flag place mats, patriotic “body crystals,” flag stickers you attach to your skin. Personally, I’m small-minded and literal enough that I see the two symbols as contradictory, especially in a time of war. But I fear that the consumer who buys a Confederate flag coffee cup, which she will then put on her American flag place mat, is the sort of sophisticated thinker who is open-minded enough that she is capable of hating blacks and Arabs at the same time. Sarah Vowell coffee hate war The whole point of Louis Armstrong is that no one can really figure him out. There was a while where I thought you could try. Sarah Vowell armstrong figures trying Despite his consistent party-line voting record, some independents and Democrats still think of Senator McCain as the most palatable, independent-minded Republican. But this is the sort of empty compliment a friend of mine once compared to being called “the coolest Osmond. Sarah Vowell independent party thinking Dig deep into its communitarian ethos and it reads more like an America that might have been, an America fervently devoted to the quaint goals of working together and getting along. Of course, this America does exist. It's called Canada. Sarah Vowell ethos goal america I no longer drink nearly as much as I used to but, still, my motto is Sine coffea nihil sum. Without coffee, I'm nothing. Sarah Vowell motto drink coffee In the U.S.A., we want to sing along with the chorus and ignore the verses, ignore the blues. . . No one is going to hold up a cigarette lighter in a stadium to the tune of "mourn together, suffer together." City on a hill, though -- that has a backbeat we can dance to. And that's why the citizens of the United States not only elected and reelected Ronald Reagan; that's why we ARE Ronald Reagan. Sarah Vowell cities suffering together You know, it's always good to have a synonym just for variety. Sarah Vowell synonym variety knows Just the other day, I was in my neighborhood Starbucks, waiting for the post office to open. I was enjoying a chocolatey cafe mocha when it occurred to me that to drink a mocha is to gulp down the entire history of the New World. From the Spanish exportation of Aztec cacao, and the Dutch invention of the chemical process for making cocoa, on down to the capitalist empire of Hershey, PA, and the lifestyle marketing of Seattle's Starbucks, the modern mocha is a bittersweet concoction of imperialism, genocide, invention, and consumerism served with whipped cream on top. Sarah Vowell aztec office waiting The only people who know about me are people who would know about me. Sarah Vowell knows people American history is a quagmire, and the more one knows, the quaggier the mire gets. Sarah Vowell quagmire american-history knows I talk about going to his [George W. Bush's] Inauguration and crying when he took the oath, 'cause I was so afraid he was going to "wreck the economy and muck up the drinking water"... the failure of my pessimistic imagination at that moment boggles my mind now. Sarah Vowell imagination drinking water My lips are chapped from the winds of change. Sarah Vowell winds-of-change lips wind While I gave up God a long time ago, I never shook the habit of wanting to believe in something. So I replaced my creed of everlasting life with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Sarah Vowell happiness long believe What are you hiding? No one ever asks that. Sarah Vowell hiding asks The only thing more dangerous than an idea is a belief. Sarah Vowell dangerous belief ideas When I think about my relationship with America, I feel like a battered wife: Yeah, he knocks me around a lot, but boy, he sure can dance. Sarah Vowell boys america thinking
