Top Studs Terkel Quotes - Quotesmemo.com

Studs Terkel Biography

Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008) was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for "The Good War", and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.

Read about Studs Terkel in Wikipedia

Random Authors

Studs Terkel Quotes

When I was asked: "Will shame do it?" Meaning: Will welfare people be shamed into getting respectable work? And I said that shame plays the biggest role there is: The biggest shame is that there is so much abundance around but that so many have so little and so few have so much. That's the shame.

Abundance, People, Respectable, Said, Shame, Work

You know, 'power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely?' It's the same with powerlessness. Absolute powerlessness corrupts absolutely. Einstein said everything had changed since the atom was split, except the way we think. We have to think anew.

Atom, Atoms, Changed, Same, Splits, Thinking

Marvin Miller, I suspect, is the most effective union organizer since John L. Lewis.

Baseball, Effective, Marvin, Miller, Union, Unions

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.

Catching, Covered, Dream, Field, News, People

I am paraphrasing Einstein. I love to do that: nobody dares contradict me.

Contradict, Dare, Einstein, Love, Paraphrasing

The history of those who shed those other tears, the history of those anonymous millions, is what Terkel wants readers and listeners to come away with. What's it like to be that goofy little soldier, scared stiff, with his bayonet aimed at Christ? What's it like to have been a woman in a defense-plant job during World War II? What's it like to be a kid at the front lines? It's all funny and tragic at the same time.

Come, Funny, Jobs, Like, Tragic, War

If solace is any sort of succor to someone, that is sufficient. I believe in the faith of people, whatever faith they may have.

Believe, Faith, People, Solace, Sort

I'm celebrated for celebrating the uncelebrated.

Celebrate, Celebrated, Celebrating, Recognition, Uncelebrated

If there is knowledge, it lies in the fusion of the book and the street.

Book, Fusion, Knowledge, Lies, Lying

Smug respectability, like the poor, we've had with us always. Today, however,. . . such obtuseness is an indulgence we can no longer afford. The computer, nuclear energy for better or worse, and sudden, simultaneous influences upon everyone's TV screen have raised the ante and the risk considerably.

Energy, Nuclear, Obtuseness, Risk, Simultaneous, Smug

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. '

Day, Nice, Things, Use, Vocabulary

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.

Action, Community, Health, Part, Read, Takes

Ordinary people are capable of doing extraordinary things, and that's what it's all about. They must count.

Capable, Ordinary, People, Things

Most of us, like the assembly line worker, have jobs that are too small for our spirit. Jobs are not big enough for people.

Assembly, Enough, Jobs, Lines, People, Spirit

I cannot even picture myself retiring. What would I do? I'll always be doing something, asking somebody questions, even if there weren't a book.

Asking, Book, Picture, Questions, Retiring

Work is born in us. We take to it kindly or unkindly. The terms may be easy or harsh, but the contract is binding.

Born, Easy, Harsh, May, Terms, Work

You happen to be talking to an agnostic. You know what an agnostic is? A cowardly atheist.

Atheism, Atheist, Cowardly, Happen, Talking

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?

Book, Jobs, War, Work, Young

Hope never trickles down. It always springs up.

Down, Hope, Spring, Springs, Trickle Down, Trickles

Something was still there, that something that distinguishes an artist from a performer: the revealing of self. Here I be. Not forlong, but here I be. In sensing her mortality, we sensed our own.

Artist, Jazz, Mortality, Revealing, Self

1