“The chilly December day! two shivering bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio first felt their homemade contraption whittled out of hickory sticks, gummed together with Arnstein's bicycle cement, stretched with muslin they'd sewn on their sister's sewing machine in their own backyard on Hawthorn Street in Dayton, Ohio, soar into the air above the dunes and the wide beach at Kitty Hawk.” FirstsTwoTogetherFeltAirStreetsMachinesSticksWideBeachSoarMechanicBicycleSisterDecemberOhioBackyardsHawksCementSewingKittiesHomemadeChilly Book:The Big Money: Volume Three of the U.S.A. Trilogy Source: The Big Money: Volume Three of the U.S.A. Trilogy
“The business of a novelist is, in my opinion, to create characters first and foremost, and then to set them in the snarl of the human currents of his time, so that there results an accurate permanent record of a phase of history.” FirstsHumansCharacterResultsOpinionRecordsCurrentsPermanentNovelistsAccuratePhases Author:John Dos Passos
“The Gospel of the army is cunning, as of all other human activities. The wisdom of the snake under the meekness of the sheep is what wins out. The first Commandment is--never let them get anything on you-- The second: Graft--get privileges others haven't got--worm yourself into confidence The Third--seem neat and prosperous--as if you had money in the bank” IfsFirstsHumansSeemsWinningAdviceHavensActivityThirdsArmyPrivilegeDeceitSheepCommandmentsSnakesWormsCunningProsperousNeatHuman ActivityMeekness Book:Travel books and other writings, 1916-1941 Source: Travel books and other writings, 1916-1941
“I do a lot of revising. Certain chapters six or seven times. Occasionally you can hit it right the first time. More often, you don't.” WritingFirstsCertainSixFirst TimeSevenChaptersRevising Book:John Dos Passos: the major nonfictional prose Source: John Dos Passos: the major nonfictional prose
