Studs Terkel quotes - page 2

More and more we are into communications; and less and less into communication. (Studs Terkel)
I like quoting Einstein. Know why? Because nobody dares contradict you. View quote
Studs Terkel
People are hungry for stories. It's part of our very being. Storytelling is a form of history, of immortality too. It goes from one generation to another. -Studs Terkel. View quote
Studs Terkel
With optimism, you look upon the sunny side of things. People say, 'Studs, you're an optimist.' I never said I was an optimist. I have hope because what's the alternative to hope? Despair? If you have despair, you might as well put your head in the oven. View quote
Studs Terkel
I'm not up on the Internet, but I hear that is a democratic possibility. People can connect with each other. I think people are ready for something, but there is no leadership to offer it to them. People are ready to say, 'Yes, we are part of a world.' View quote
Studs Terkel
That's why I wrote this book: to show how these people can imbue us with hope. I read somewhere that when a person takes part in community action, his health improves. Something happens to him or to her biologically. It's like a tonic. View quote
Studs Terkel
I hope that memory is valued - that we do not lose memory. View quote
Studs Terkel
That's what we're missing. We're missing argument. We're missing debate. We're missing colloquy. We're missing all sorts of things. Instead, we're accepting. View quote
Studs Terkel
If solace is any sort of succor to someone, that is sufficient. I believe in the faith of people, whatever faith they may have. View quote
Studs Terkel
But once you become active in something, something happens to you. You get excited and suddenly you realize you count. View quote
Studs Terkel
I want to praise activists through the years. I praise those of the past as well, to have them honored. (Studs Terkel)
Someone who does an act. In a democratic society, you're supposed to be an activist; that is, you participate. It could be a letter written to an editor. View quote
Studs Terkel
We use the word 'hope' perhaps more often than any other word in the vocabulary: 'I hope it's a nice day.' 'Hopefully, you're doing well.' 'So how are things going along? Pretty good. Going to be good tomorrow? Hope so.' View quote
Studs Terkel
I was walking downstairs carrying a drink in one hand and a book in the other. Don't try that after ninety. View quote
Studs Terkel
For the first book, I interviewed one mother of four little kids, skinny, pretty, bad teeth - meaning no dental care - and the kids are jumping around, 'cause they want to hear their mamma's voice played back... and so I play it back, and she listens to what she said on the tape and she says, 'Oh my God,' she says. ' I never knew I felt that way before' ... That's pretty hot stuff, isn't it? That's hot stuff. That's the stuff. View quote
Studs Terkel
You can work next to a guy for months without even knowing his name. View quote
Studs Terkel
Most of us, like the assembly line worker, have jobs that are too small for our spirit. Jobs are not big enough for people. View quote
Studs Terkel
People are ready to say, 'Yes, we are ready for single-payer health insurance.' We are the only industrialized country in the world that does not have national health insurance. We are the richest in wealth and the poorest in health of all the industrial nations. View quote
Studs Terkel
One day I visited a guy who had made a fortune as a broker. He was sitting in his office with his computer. I hire people from here and make deals from this room, he told me. Then he took me to the trading room. Nobody was talking to anybody else, the place was silent as a tomb, they were all sitting there watching their terminals - a great word, terminal. I tell you, it scares the crap out of me. View quote
Studs Terkel
Perhaps it is this specter that most haunts working men and women: the planned obsolescence of people that is of a piece with the planned obsolescence of the things they make. Or sell. View quote
Studs Terkel
All the other books ask, 'What's it like?' What was World War II like for the young kid at Normandy, or what is work like for a woman having a job for the first time in her life? What's it like to be black or white? (Studs Terkel)
Curiosity never killed this cat' - that's what I'd like as my epitaph. View quote
Studs Terkel
Heroic? I was scared shitless! But my ego was at stake. My vanity. "Whaddya mean, I'm dumb?" View quote
Studs Terkel
We are the most powerful nation in the world, but we're not the only nation in the world. We are not the only people in the world. We are an important people, the wealthiest, the most powerful and, to a great extent, generous. But we are part of the world. View quote
Studs Terkel
So people are ready. I feel hopeful in that sense. View quote
Studs Terkel