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Quote by Studs Terkel

“I call myself a radical conservative. What's that? Well, let's analyze it. Go to the dictionary. Radical: One who gets to the roots of things. And I'm a conservative because I want to conserve the green of the grass, the potability of drinking water, the first amendment of the Constitution and whatever sanity we have left.”

Quote by Studs Terkel

Author

Studs Terkel was an American author, born on May 16, 1912, and passed away on October 31, 2008. He is known for his in-depth interviews with the working class and ordinary people in the United States, with his most famous work being 'Working: People Talk About Their Jobs'. more

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“I guess I was seeking some balance in the wildlife of the city as Rachel Carson sought it in nature. In unbalanced times, balance is as difficult to come by as Parsifal's Grail.”

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Book:The Studs Terkel Reader: My American Century

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“I have a big mouth, and I never met a petition I didn't like, so of course in the McCarthy days I got in trouble.”

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“I never drove a car. I'm hopeless that way. I press the wrong buttons on the tape recorder. But if the person I'm interviewing helps me out, that person feels needed. People need to feel needed.”

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“I said, "Suppose communists come out against cancer, do we have to automatically come out for cancer?'" I can't take back that I'm against the poll tax, that I'm against lynching, that I'm for peace.”

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“I'm called an oral historian, which is something of a joke. Oral history was here long before the pen, long before Gutenberg and the printing press. The difference is I have a tape recorder in my hand.”

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“In order for us, black and white, to disenthrall ourselves from the harshest slavemaster, racism, we must disinter our buried history.... We are all the Pilgrim, setting out on this journey.”

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Book:The Studs Terkel Reader: My American Century

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“It is still the arena of those who dream of the City of Man and those who envision a City of Things. The battle appears to be forever joined. The armies, ignorant and enlightened, clash by day as well as night. Chicago is America's dream, writ large. And flamboyantly.”

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Book:Studs Terkel's Chicago

Source: Studs Terkel's Chicago

“My doctors were of one mind: unless something was immediately done, I had maybe six months to live. A quintuple bypass was suggested. Quintuple! I was impressed, though somewhat disturbed because I was in the middle of work on a new book.”

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Book:Will the Circle Be Unbroken?: Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith

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“There are nascent stirrings in the neighborhood and in the field, articulated by non-celebrated people who bespeak the dreams of their fellows. It may be catching. Unfortunately, it is not covered on the six o'clock news.”

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Book:American Dreams: Lost and Found

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“Tom Paine was a great American visionary. His book, Common Sense, sold a couple of hundred thousand copies in a population of four or five million. That means it was a best seller for years. People were thoughtful then. Hope is one thing. But you need to have hope with thought.”