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Famous Florence King Quotes

“The confidence and security of a people can be measured by their attitude toward laxatives. At the high noon of the British sun, soldiers in far-flung outposts of the Empire doctored themselves with "a spoonful o' gunpowder in a cuppa 'ot tea." Purveyors and users of harsh laxatives were not afraid of being thought mean and unfriendly just because their laxatives were. But in America, the need to be nice is so consuming that nobody would dare take a laxative that makes you run up the stairs two at a time, pushing others aside and yelling, "Get out of the way!”

PeopleWayNeedsMeanTwoRunningAmericaAttitudeSunNiceSecuritySoldierDareBritishTeaEmpiresPushingNot AfraidUsersBeing NiceHarshConsumingStairsNoonYellingGunpowderUnfriendly
Author:Florence King
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“One of life's intriguing paradoxes is that hierarchical social order makes cheap rents and outré artists' colonies possible. Raffish bohemian neighborhoods flourished in the days of racial segregation; under integration the artistic poor have no safe places in which to create.... If America lacks a vigorous culture it is partly because studios and ateliers have become crack houses.”

IfsAmericaArtistOrderCultureHouseSocialPoorSafeStudiosArtisticNeighborhoodParadoxCracksIntegrationSegregationVigorousIntriguingColonySocial OrderBohemianSafe PlacesRacial Segregation
Author:Florence King
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“By sending the contradictory message that the famous are just plain folks on Mount Olympus, America has forged a relentless tension between loftiness and accessibility. Stir in the fact that the inborn talent and intelligence needed to achieve fame are immune to distributive tinkering by government programs and you have a definition of fame certain to produce envious rage: somebody screwed democracy.”

FactsGovernmentAmericaCertainDemocracyAchieveTalentProduceNeededFameMessagesProgramFolksDefinitionsEqualityEnvyRageTensionContradictoryRelentlessImmuneEnviousForgedAccessibilityGovernment ProgramsOlympusTinkering
Author:Florence King
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“There are so many different kinds of people in America, with so many different boiling points, that we don't know how to fight with each other. The set piece that shapes and contains quarrels in homogeneous countries does not exist here. The Frenchman is an expert on the precise gradations of espèce de and the Italian knows exactly when to introduce the subject of his other's grave, but no American can be sure how or when another will react, so we zap each other with friendliness to neutralize potentially dangerous situations.”

PeopleKnowsKindDoeDifferentCountryAmericaFightingSituationKnow HowPiecesSubjectsDangerousShapesGravesExpertsItalianDifferent KindsIntroducingPreciseQuarrelsBoilingFriendlinessFrenchmenHomogeneousDangerous SituationsEspBoiling Point
Book:Reflections In A Jaundiced Eye
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“Hereditary monarchy offers numerous advantages for America. It is the only form of government able to unify a heterogeneous people. Thanks to centuries of dynastic marriage, the family tree of every royal house is an ethnic grab bag with something for everybody. We need this badly; America is the only country in the world where you can suffer culture shock without leaving home. We can't go on much longer depending upon disasters like Pearl Harbor and the Iranian hostage-taking to "bring us together.”

PeopleWorldNeedsCountryHomeGovernmentAbleTogetherAmericaFormSufferingCultureHouseTreeCenturyGoes OnOffersAdvantageLeavingDisasterThanksShockBagsPearlsRoyalHarborsMonarchyForms Of GovernmentIranianHostageHereditaryLeaving HomeCulture Shock
Book:Reflections In A Jaundiced Eye
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“Any discussion of the problems of being funny in America will not make sense unless we substitute the word wit for humor. Humor inspires sympathetic good-natured laughter and is favored by the healing-power gang. Wit goes for the jugular, not the jocular, and it's the opposite of football; instead of building character, it tears it down.”

CharacterProblemAmericaHealingTearsBuildingFootballInspireLaughterOppositesWitMake SenseDiscussionSubstitutesGangSympatheticBeing FunnyBuilding Character
Book:Reflections In A Jaundiced Eye
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“America is not a democracy, it's an absolute monarchy ruled by King Kid. In a nation of immigrants, the child is automatically more of an American than his parents. Americans regard children as what Mr. Hudson in Upstairs, Downstairs called betters. Aping their betters, American adults do their best to turn themselves into children. Puerility exercises droit de seigneur everywhere.”

ChildrenKidsAmericaTurnsNationsParentDemocracyKingsExerciseAdultsAbsolutesRegardImmigrantsMonarchyUpstairsAbsolute Monarchy
Book:Reflections In A Jaundiced Eye
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“Owning your own home is America's unique recipe for avoiding revolution and promoting pseudo-equality at the same time. To keep citizens puttering in their yards instead of sputtering on the barricades, the government has gladly deprived itself of billions in tax revenues by letting home owners deduct mortgage interest payments.”

HomeGovernmentAmericaHouseWomenInterestRevolutionCitizensTaxesUniqueBillionsOwnersYardsAvoidingRecipesRevenuePromotingDeprivedRebelliousPaymentMortgagePseudoBarricades
Book:Reflections In A Jaundiced Eye
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“Any hope that America would finally grow up vanished with the rise of fundamentalist Christianity. Fundamentalism, with its born-again regression, its pink-and-gold concept of heaven, its literal-mindedness, its rambunctious good cheer... its anti-intellectualism... its puerile hymns... and its faith-healing... are made to order for King Kid America.”

MadeKidsChristianAmericaOrderHeavenGrowsBornHealingChristianityGrowing UpAtheismKingsConceptsGoldPositive AtheismCheerFundamentalismLiteralBorn AgainHymnsFundamentalistIntellectualismRegressionGood CheerFaith Healing
Book:Reflections In A Jaundiced Eye
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