Quotessence
Home / Books / In the Country of the Blind

In the Country of the Blind

Book by Edward Hoagland · 8 quotes · Blindness, Disability, Catholic Workers Theology

Filter quotes by topic

AllBlindnessDisabilityCatholic Workers TheologyCavemanCrippled PeopleCrueltyDiamond In The RoughDogs And HumansFertilityGallows HumorGetting ByHard BittenHelping OthersIndifferenceKindness Of StrangersLife LessonsLife S VagariesLove Trumps HateMacgyvering Up A LifeMacho

In the Country of the Blind Quotes

“God is so cruel," she murmured reflectively, as though answering him. "Yes," he admitted, from the vantage point of going blind. "Though maybe people are kinder if He made them that way." "You've run with a different crowd. Rich people are nicer to rich people." "Sure. Yes. That's why I've washed up here. Rich people couldn't have been nicer to me.”

CrueltyIndifferenceDisabilityBlindnessMan Is Wolf To ManThrowaway People
Book:In the Country of the Blind
Create image

“The whistling dawn, the sussurration of the leaves, a honking goose, and then a sentimental confab at the Solid Rock Gospel Church with a wounded soul who poured his heart out to Press precisely because he was blind and therefore harmless. Since these individuals had no money, he couldn't give them financial advice, just wholehearted sympathy. As at the commune, a toddler might scramble into his lap, and while he petted the child its mother held a cookie to its mouth and another one to his to bite and chew. A world worth living in and for.”

Helping OthersBlindnessSimple LifeKindness Of StrangersGetting ByCrippled People
Book:In the Country of the Blind
Create image

“I'd like a break. I'm forty-six, so the undertow is beginning to get to me." "Then what are you good for?" she asked, in a kind tone. "Oh, a man around the house has his uses. A dildo; an ear to talk to; two arms around you; a voice from the next room when you're lonesome." "I have a dog to talk to." "That might be a deal killer.”

Dogs And HumansGallows HumorSelling YourselfLife S Vagaries
Book:In the Country of the Blind
Create image

“Men were so violent, she complained. Why were men so violent? You had to be careful as a woman. You could get somebody's nose broken if you griped that they had pinched you or even looked at you funny. And of course that wasn't what you wanted; you just wanted to be left alone. Also, you knew that the mean son of a bitch that broke the poor jerk's nose was just getting his rocks off--didn't care about you personally.”

SexismMachoTestosterone PoisoningWoman S Plight
Book:In the Country of the Blind
Create image

“He couldn't work, as such, but needed to flex himself somehow in ways that felt like work, he thought. Lacking credentials and sight he could not teach, for example. Even reading a cold-call script would be out, although he'd heard of a resourceful blind man who went to the social security office and suggested, "Give me either a job or just my damned check," and received the former, skillfully handling mediation assignments.”

DisabilityMacgyvering Up A LifeMaking LemonadeReverse Engineering A Life
Book:In the Country of the Blind
Create image

“The sexual license prevalent among {the} Sixties generation was deplorable, but no more so than predatory Capitalism, with cruel slums alongsideabsurd affluence: affluence which paid for...depictions of the Holy Family as a form of expiation. Love was the basis for what he believed. Promiscuity certainly violated that polestar, yet caring for others, even in "fooling around"--which was not to justify it--topped dog-eat-dog Capitalism.”

MoralityLove Trumps HateCatholic Workers Theology
Book:In the Country of the Blind
Create image