Quotessence
Home / Authors / Barbara Ehrenreich
Barbara Ehrenreich

Barbara Ehrenreich Quotes

American Political figure

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleJobsWorkIfsMenThinkingWarWellsWorldBusinessSeemsClassHumansKindAmericaCareersMayMiddle ClassMightNeeds

Famous Barbara Ehrenreich Quotes

“I realize that after decades of positive thinking the notion of realism, of things as they are, may seem a little quaint. ... When the stakes are high enough and the risks obvious, we still turn to people who can be counted on to understand those risks and prepare for worst-case scenarios. A chief of state does not want to hear a general in the field say that he 'hopes' to win tomorrow's battle or that he's 'visualizing victory'.”

PeopleThinkingWantMayLittlesDoeStillsStatesEnoughRealitySeemsTurnsWinningRealizingCasesRiskWorstFieldsPositive ThinkingVictoryTomorrowBattleNotionObviousDecadesChiefsStakesRealismScenariosWishful ThinkingQuaintVisualizingWorst Case Scenario
Book:Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America
Create image

“When television families aren't gathered around the kitchen table exchanging wisecracks, they are experiencing brief but moving dilemmas, which are handily solved by the youngest child or by some cute extraterrestrial houseguest. Emerging from Family Ties or My Two Dads, we are forced to acknowledge that our own families are made up of slow-witted, emotionally crippled people who would be lucky to qualify for seats in the studio audience of JEOPARDY!”

PeopleChildrenMadeTwoWould BeMovingAudienceTelevisionDadLuckyTablesStudiosAcknowledgeCuteTiesKitchenSeatsEmergingDilemmaCrippledJeopardyExchangingExtraterrestrialKitchen TableFamily TiesYoungest Child
Book:WORST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
Create image

“We [on the left] have to be used to being a minority -- a small minority -- for some time to come. The odd thing is that the right, even when it is in power, likes to think of itself as an embattled minority against this elite that somehow runs everything. Whereas the left, even when it has no power at all, likes to imagine it somehow represents the majority of people. These are mirror-image delusions.”

PeopleThinkingRunningUsedLeftImagineMirrorsMajorityLikesOddMinoritiesDelusionElitesOdd ThingsMirror Image
Author:Barbara Ehrenreich
Create image

“What would it mean in practice to eliminate all the 'negative people' from one's life [as demanded by motivational speaker J.P. Maroney]? It might be a good idea to separate from a chronically carping spouse, but it is not so easy to abandon the whiny toddler, the colicky infant, or the sullen teenager.”

PeopleMeanIdeasMightEasyPracticeNegativeTeenagerAbandonGood IdeasSpeakersSpouseInfantNegative PeopleToddlerSullenMotivational Speakers
Author:Barbara Ehrenreich
Create image

“The obvious liberal rejoinders come to mind: What about the child whose home is hit by a bomb? Did she have some bomb-shaped thoughtform that brought ruin down on her head? And did my [fired white-collar workers] boot-camp mates cause the layoffs that drove them out of their jobs by "vibrating" at a layoff-related frequency? It seems inexcusably cruel to tell people who have reach some kind of personal nadir that their probem is entirely of their own making.”

PeopleMindKindChildrenHomeSeemsJobsCausesWorkWhiteWorkersObviousRuinsRelatedBombsCampsMatesBootsFrequencyCollarsWhite CollarNadirBoot CampLayoff
Author:Barbara Ehrenreich
Create image

“Upscale people are fixated with food simply because they are now able to eat so much of it without getting fat, and the reason they don't get fat is that they maintain a profligate level of calorie expenditure. The very same people whose evenings begin with melted goats cheese... get up at dawn to run, break for a mid-morning aerobics class, and watch the evening news while racing on a stationary bicycle.”

PeopleReasonRunningAbleLevelsClassWatchesBreakMorningFoodNewsFatsGet UpEveningDawnRacingCheeseBicycleGoatsCaloriesExpendituresStationaryAerobics
Book:WORST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
Create image