The 42nd Parallel
John Dos Passos
Top 10 Best Quotes
“The young man walks by himself, fast but not fast enough, far but not far enough (faces slide out of sight, talk trails into tattered scraps, footsteps tap fainter in alleys); he must catch the last subway, the streetcar, the bus, run up the gangplanks of all the steamboats, register at all the hotels, work in the cities, answer the wantads, learn the trades, take up the jobs, live in all the boardinghouses, sleep in all the beds. One bed is not enough, one job is not enough, one life is not enough. At night, head swimming with wants, he walks by himself alone.”
“The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in the armour of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error." -
“One phrase stuck in Fainy’s mind, and he repeated it to himself after he had gone to bed that night: It is time for all honest men to band together to resist the ravages of greedy privilege.”
“While there is a lower class I am of it, while there is a criminal class I am of it, while there is a soul in prison I am not free.”
“Luther Burbank was born in a brick farmhouse in Lancaster Mass, he walked through the woods one w inter crunch ing through the sh inycrusted snow stumbl ing into a little dell where a warm spr ing was and found the grass green and weeds sprout ing and skunk cabbage push ing up a potent thumb, He went home and sat by the stove and read Darw in Struggle for Existence Orig in of Species Natural Selecti on that wasn't what they taught in church, so Luther Burbank ceased to believe moved to Lunenburg, found a seedball in a potato plant sowed the seed and cashed in on Darw in’s Natural Selecti on on Spencer and Huxley with the Burbank potato. Young man go west;Luther Burbank went to Santa Rosa full of his dream of green grass in w inter ever- bloom ing flowers ever- bear ing berries; Luther Burbankcould cash in on Natural Selecti on Luther Burbank carried his apocalyptic dream of green grass in w interand seedless berries and st oneless plums and thornless roses brambles cactus— w inters were bleak in that bleak brick farmhouse in bleak Massachusetts— out to sunny Santa Rosa; and he was a sunny old man where roses bloomed all year everbloom ing everbear ing hybrids. America was hybridAmerica could cash in on Natural Selecti on. He was an infidel he believed in Darw in and NaturalSelecti on and the influence of the mighty dead and a good firm shipper’s fruit suitable for cann ing.He was one of the grand old men until the churchesand the c ongregati ons got w ind that he was an infidel and believed in Darw in.Luther Burbank had never a thought of evil, selected improved hybrids for Americathose sunny years in Santa Rosa. But he brushed down a wasp’s nest that time; he wouldn’t give up Darw in and Natural Selecti on and they stung him and he died puzzled. They buried him under a cedartree. His favorite photograph was of a little totstand ing beside a bed of hybrideverbloom ing double Shasta daisies with never a thought of evil And Mount Shasta in the background, used to be a volcanobut they d on’t have volcanos any more.”
“U. S. A. is the slice of a continent. U. S. A. is a group of holding companies, some aggregations of trade unions, a set of laws bound in calf, a radio network, a chain of moving picture theatres, a column of stockquotations rubbed out and written in by a Western Union boy on a blackboard, a public-library full of old newspapers and dogeared historybooks with protests scrawled on the margins in pencil. U. S. A. is the world’s greatest rivervalley fringed with mountains and hills, U. S. A. is a set of bigmouthed officials with too many bankaccounts. U. S. A. is a lot of men buried in their uniforms in Arlington Cemetery. U. S. A. is the letters at the end of an address when you”
“but on account of the flag and prosperity and making the world safe for democracy, they were afraid to be with him, or to think much about him for fear they might believe him; for he said: While there is a lower class I am of it, while there is a criminal class I am of it, while there is a soul in prison I am not free.”
“The twentieth century will be American. American thought will dominate it. American progress will give it color and direction. American deeds will make it illustrious. Civilization will never lose its hold on Shanghai. Civilization will never depart from Hongkong. The gates of Peking will never again be closed to the methods of modern man. The regeneration of the world, physical as well as moral, has begun, and revolutions never move backwards.”
“...and the Sunday the bishop came you couldn't see Halley's Comet any more and you saw the others being confirmed and it lasted for hours because there were a lot of little girls being confirmed too and all you could hear was mumble mumble this thy child mumble mumble this thy child and you wondered if you'd be alive next time Halley's Comet came round”
“and you wondered if you’d be alive next time Halley’s Comet came round”
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Book Keywords:
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