You," Said Dr. Yavitch, "are a middle-road liberal, and you haven't the slightest idea what you want. I, being a revolutionist, know exactly what I want -- and what I want now is a drink.
Interpretation
The quote contrasts the indecisiveness of a moderate with the clarity of purpose in a revolutionary mindset.
In this quote, Sinclair Lewis presents a humorous juxtaposition between two types of individuals: the middle-road liberal, who is often perceived as indecisive and lacking clear goals, and the revolutionist, who possesses a singular drive and focus. The punchline emphasizes the revolutionist's straightforward desire for a drink, highlighting how clarity of purpose can be both amusing and grounded in simplicity.
In practice
In a debate about political ideologies, one might quote this to illustrate the contrast between moderation and radical action.
Upon this theology he rarely pondered. The kernel of his practical religion was that it was respectable, and beneficial to one's business, to be seen going to services; that the church kept the Worst Elements from being still worse; and that the pastor's sermons, however dull they might seem at the time of taking, yet had a voodooistic power which 'did a fellow good-- kept him in touch with Higher Things.
Intellectually I know that America is no better than any other country; emotionally I know she is better than every other country.
Writers kid themselves-about themselves and other people. Take the talk about writing methods. Writing is just work-there's no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type with your toes-it is just work.
She did her work with the thoroughness of a mind which reveres details and never quite understands them.
Writing is just work-there's no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type or write with your toes-it's still just work.
It is, I think, an error to believe that there is any need of religion to make life seem worth living.
The bourgeois novel is the greatest enemy of truth and honesty that was ever invented. It's a vast, sentimentalizing structure that reassures the reader, and at every point, offers the comfort of secure moral frameworks and recognizable characters.
Truthfulness is the foundation of all the virtues of mankind
Either we conform our desires to the truth or we conform the truth to our desires.
To be able to rise from the earth; to be able, from a station in outer space, to see the relationship of the planet earth to other planets; to be able to contemplate the billions of factors in precise and beautiful combination that make human existence possible; to be able to dwell on an encounter of the human brain and spirit with the universe
Fate finds for every man; his share of misery.
Everything is arranged so that it be this way, this is what is called culture.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.