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Bernard DeVoto

Bernard DeVoto Books

Historian

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“When evening quickens in the street, comes a pause in the day's occupation that is known as the cocktail hour. It marks the lifeward turn. The heart wakens from coma and its dyspnea ends. Its strengthening pulse is to cross over into campground, to believe that the world has not been altogether lost or, if lost, then not altogether in vain.”

IfsWorldBelieveHeartEndsTurnsLostHoursKnownStreetsFoodCrossesMarkCookingEveningVainCulinaryOccupationPausesPulseCocktailsStrengtheningComa
Author:Bernard DeVoto
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“Let us candidly admit that there are shameful blemishes on the American past, of which the worst by far is rum. Nevertheless, we have improved man's lot and enriched his civilization with rye, bourbon and the Martini cocktail. In all history has any other nation done so much?”

MenDonePastNationsWorstFoodCivilizationCookingAlcoholCulinaryNeverthelessShamefulCocktailsMartiniBourbonRum
Book:The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto
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“It is imperative to maintain portions of the wilderness untouched so that a tree will rot where it falls, a waterfall will pour its curve without generating electricity, a trumpeter swan may float on uncontaminated water - and moderns may at least see what their ancestors knew in their nerves and blood.”

MayFallWaterNatureTreeBloodEnvironmentalWildernessNervesAncestorPortionsElectricityConservationCurvesFloatsImperativesMother EarthSwansNature And EnvironmentWaterfallsSave Mother EarthNature Conservation
Author:Bernard DeVoto
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“Between the amateur and the professional . . . there is a difference not only in degree but in kind. The skillful man is, within the function of his skill, a different psychological organization. . . . A tennis player or a watchmaker or an airplane pilot is an automatism but he is also criticism and wisdom.”

MenKindDifferentWisdomDifferencesPlayerSkillsDegreesCriticismOrganizationFunctionPsychologicalTennisAviationPilotsAirplaneSkillfulTennis Player
Author:Bernard DeVoto
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“New England is a finished place. Its destiny is that of Florence or Venice, not Milan while the American empire careens onward toward its unpredicted end. . . . It is the first American section to be finished to achieve stability in the conditions of its life. It is the first old civilization, the first permanent civilization in America.”

LifeFirstsEndsAmericaDestinyAchieveConditionsCivilizationEnglandFinishedPermanentEmpiresStabilitySectionsVeniceNew EnglandFlorenceMilanAmerican Empire
Author:Bernard DeVoto
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