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User:RoboAction/format/vol2

--view vol1--this is vol2-- Here is an example of format vol2: tittle is a YEAR film about (...quick description...)
 * ''Directed by director. Written by writer (<--- only if present at wikiquote use )
 * ''Starring: cast1, cast2, and cast3.

(Tag line of the movie)

character1

 * (...quote...)

 * (...quote...)

character2

 * (...quote...)

 * (...quote...)

Conversations

 * character2: (...quote...)
 * character4: (...quote...)
 * character2: (...quote...)

 * character1: (...quote...)
 * character2: (...quote...)
 * character1: (...quote...)
 * character3: (...quote...)

Other

 * character4: (...quote...)

Cast

 * cast1 - character2
 * cast2 - character1
 * cast3 - character4

Travis Bickle
stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man.
 * Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks,

not take it anymore'''. Who would not let...Listen you fuckers, you screwheads. Here's a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit, here is someone who stood up. HERE IS ...
 * [voiceover] Listen you fuckers, you screwheads. '''Here's a man who would

Conversations

 * Sport: Catch you later, copper.
 * Travis: I'm no cop, man. I'm hip.
 * Sport: Funny, you don't look hip. But looks aren't everything.

Go ahead, have yourself a good time.

 * Cab Dispatcher: Can you drive to the Bronx? Manhattan?
 * Travis Bickle: I work anytime, anywhere.
 * Cab Dispatcher: Will you work Jewish holidays?
 * Travis Bickle: Anytime. Anywhere.

Others

 * Senator Charles Palantine: We meet at a crossroads in history.

No longer will the wrong roads be taken.

Cast

 * Robert De Niro - Travis Bickle
 * Cybill Shepherd - Betsy
 * Jodie Foster - Iris
 * Harvey Keitel - Sport
 * Peter Boyle - Wizard

Travis Bickle

 * Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man.

 * [voiceover] Listen you fuckers, you screwheads. Here's a man who would not take it anymore. Who would not let...Listen you fuckers, you screwheads. Here's a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit, here is someone who stood up. HERE IS ...

Conversations

 * Sport: Catch you later, copper.
 * Travis: I'm no cop, man. I'm hip.
 * Sport: Funny, you don't look hip. But looks aren't everything. Go ahead, have yourself a good time.

 * Cab Dispatcher: Can you drive to the Bronx? Manhattan?
 * Travis Bickle: I work anytime, anywhere.
 * Cab Dispatcher: Will you work Jewish holidays?
 * Travis Bickle: Anytime. Anywhere.

Others

 * Senator Charles Palantine: We meet at a crossroads in history. No longer will the wrong roads be taken.

Cast

 * Robert De Niro - Travis Bickle
 * Cybill Shepherd - Betsy
 * Jodie Foster - Iris
 * Harvey Keitel - Sport
 * Peter Boyle - Wizard

title: User:RoboAction/format/vol2


text:
Lewis Black

Lewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is a Grammy Award-winning American stand-up comedian, author, playwright and actor.

Quotes

 * Now, maybe you thought you could get clever by adding an -ing to your favorite curse word. Well, the bill also prohibits "compound use, including hyphenated compounds … and other grammatical forms, including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms." Fortunately for me, they didn't include the pluperfect subjunctive. So, all you stuffed shirts can just have been having had to bite me.
 * "Back in Black", the 2004-3-24 episode of The Daily Show. The bill in question was H.R. 3687, a resolution by which the United States House of Representatives intended to expand the definition of "profane broadcasts".
 * HBO used to do a thing in Bryant Park where you'd face the library, and they would have comics on-stage, live, and no censorship (during afternoons in the summer). … And it's spectacular to be able to yell the word fuck and throw it out and have it hit the library and bounce back at you. … It's really—it's like heaven.
 * From his interview with Kevin Pollak for the documentary film Misery Loves Comedy (2015)

The White Album (2000)

 * I love Wisconsin, I love coming here. I've performed here a lot because I've discovered that you people apparently have some sort of federal grant for drinking. [audience cheers] It's–you're insane! You pay less for liquor than anybody I know anywhere in the country. Nobody pays any less for liquor than you. What're you–what're you–HOW?! I don't know if you're using that farm subsidy money, or if you're just hijacking liquor trucks, but this is fucking insane. [audience member shouts something] Is it volume? It's unbe–fucking–lievable, it's staggering! I come here because basically if I spend four days here drinking, and even with the plane ticket, it's cheaper than drinking in New York. How do you know when it's New Year's? That's the big mystery to me. What's the difference? I've been in bars here and it's like New Year's every fucking night! "Uh, New Year's, that's when we–we drink with hats on."

 * This [Wisconsin] is the only state that I can tell this story in because you're the only people who understand it. Uh, one night I was performing in Milwaukee and I finished my set, and it was late in the evening, and I got a, had a scotch, and two of the waitresses sat down and had a brandy Old-Fashioned, and−and you're the only fuckers who drink that. More brandies get drunk in Wisconsin over Christmas than was drunk during the entire Second World War. I actually had a cab driver who was driving me back one night, and he said, "Son of a bitch, I was in New York City, and they didn't know how to make a brandy Old-Fashioned; I had to jump over the bar!" You people are NUTS! So, I was sitting there, and at that point, they ordered a shot of Jager. 'Cause I guess, you know...[Audience cheers] I love you, you're the only people who applaud Jager. And I'm telling you, something is wrong with that. You don't even know what's in it! Okay? That's wrong! You know how they make Jager? They take all the bar rags in this country, and they wring them into a–that's how they do it. And−and then, even when you lack a response, I can hear half of you going, "So what's wrong with that?"

 * There's a daytime NyQuil, and there's a nighttime NyQuil. Drink either one you want, because your cold doesn't give a shit what time it is. NyQuil comes in two colors: red and green. It's the only thing on the planet that tastes like red and green. And red and green are what? Christmas colors! That's right, NyQuil makes a dandy egg nog! Oh yeah, my friends bitched through the entire party, "This tastes like shit!" But at the end of it, we had a fun sleepover.

 * Al Roker was the weatherman in New York City, and three years ago we had a blizzard. We were supposed to have, according to Al, 4 to 12 inches of snow. That's his prediction. We had 36 inches. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, he was two feet off. THAT'S NOT EVEN IN THE BALLPARK! If you were a roofer and you built a roof and it was two feet off, you'd still be serving time. Al Roker makes 1.5 million dollars a year as a weather person, and he doesn’t know shit about the weather.

 * You don't want to go to Miami. Everybody's always delighted with it--no! Listen! The temperature down there is always over ninety and the humidity--and here's the problem--is way over 100%, way. And you know how it's over 100% humidity? When you're walking down the street for five minutes thinking to yourself, "You know, I should have put deodorant on my balls." That's over a hundred. Because that's not something you'd think of on your own.

 * I called the police. I said, "They've stolen my rental car, a Plymouth Horizon." The policeman said, "I guess they took it for a joyride." I said, "You know, I don't think you're listening, asshole. The car is a Plymouth Horizon. It is not a joy to ride!" This is a car that goes forty-five miles an hour with the wind; if you actually turn off the air conditioner you can supercharge the little fucker to forty-eight. I got a nosebleed I was having so much fun in the car. I didn't even want the piece of shit, so I was staggered to find out somebody took it.

 * The reason you should go to Las Vegas is because, for only the second time, the second time, ever, they have rebuilt Sodom and Gomorrah. It's back!! And you have the opportunity to see it before it turns to salt. And you wanna get out there before the Christian Right finds out what we're up to and shits all over it.

 * The best time to go to Las Vegas is during Christmastime, because there's no drug you can take that will recreate the experience of watching people gamble while they play Christmas carols. I'm Jewish, and I'm astonished. People going, "GODDAMMIT!" "JESUS CHRIST!" "HOLY FUCK!" "...pa-rum-pum-pum-pum, me and my drum."

 * People go to Vegas, and they don't know what to do; here's what you do. You go to the casino in your hotel. On your arrival, you get $100 in quarters. Take that $100 back to your hotel room and stare at it for a long, long time. Why? Because you're never going to see them again. Then you take those quarters to the bathroom and you flush them, one by one by one. And the nice thing about that is that every so often the toilet will back up, and you'll feel like a WINNER!

 * In four days, I experienced five seasons. It was thirty, it was sixty, it was ninety, then it was TWELVE! And on the last day, there was thunder, lightning, and snow--together! And I hadn't done drugs.

 * Normally, in February, in Boston and in most of the country, the weather is gray, rainy, gray, sleet, snow, gray; every day it just gets grayer and grayer and grayer! You wake up one day and you go 'I'm not coming into work today!' Your boss goes, 'Why not? You sick?' 'No! Its too gray!' Then you wake up and its the grayest day you've ever seen! And the next day it's even grayer! And that's usually Valentine's Day, and that's the day you look at your wrists and go, 'Hey, maybe I should slit 'em to see color!

 * I'll tell ya, in New York City, where I've lived far too long, 'fuck' isn't even a word, it's a comma.

 * I love New York City. The reason I live in New York City is because it's the loudest city on the planet Earth. It's so loud I never have to listen to any of the shit that's going on in my own head. It's really loud. They literally have guys come with jackhammers and they drill the streets and just leave cones in front of your apartment; you don't even know why. Garbage men come; they don't pick up the garbage, they just bang the cans together. And if your block's too quiet, they actually hire a guy who wanders around going, "FUCK ME! FUCK ME! FUCK ME!" … That was the first job I ever had.

 * The people who told us about sun block were the same people who told us, when I was a kid, that eggs were good. So I ate a lot of eggs. Ten years later they said they were bad. I went, "Well, I just ate the eggs!" So I stopped eating eggs, and ten years later they said they were good again! Well, then I ate twice as many, and then they said they were bad. Well, now I'm really fucked! Then they said they're good, they're bad, they're good, the whites are good, th-the yellows - make up your mind! It's breakfast I've gotta eat!

 * The moment in time that I believe that we completely lost our minds occurred in January of 1998. I was watching CNN when it occurred. It was 9 o’clock in the morning and they announced that the President of the United States may or may not have had oral sex with a 21-year-old in the White House, and that that, and now I’m QUOTING, “wasn’t the bad news.” And I hadn’t had coffee but I thought, “That’s pretty bad news. How could that not be bad news? HOW COULD THAT NOT BE BAD NEWS? What else did he do? Did he break into the zoo and BLOW AN ELEPHANT?” And they said, “No, the President may have made the young girl lie.” “Oh! How horrible! Made her lie? That’s still not the bad news you idiots because in order to make her lie, first, he would’ve had to take his penis...OUT OF HER MOUTH!”

 * Is oral sex adultery? Yes! That's the end of the fucking argument. There's nothing to discuss. If curling is an Olympic sport, then oral sex is adultery.  And oral sex should be an Olympic sport.  I would like to see that.  Ice skating, then blowjobs.  I certainly would stay through whatever commercials they had.  I think oral sex should be an Olympic sport because it's harder than curling ever has been.  And if you're any good at it, you deserve a medal.

 * My favorite health club is the International House of Pancakes. No matter what your weight is, there will always be someone who weighs 150 pounds more than you will ever weigh. It's guaranteed; it's on the back of the menu, read it sometime. They don't give you a cup of coffee, they give you a hot aisle of coffee! It's coffee for 15 people. Even if you're alone, they bring you a big jug of coffee, which makes me feel good 'cause I think maybe somebody's coming and I don't know who. So I put in the sugar and the milk and I drink the whole thing and then I go, "BRING ME SOME GODDAMN PANCAKES!" Son of a bitch, that's too much coffee. What's the matter with you people?

 * And so they turned to the Republican Party and they said, “Come on, get the little prick!” And so the Republicans took out their rifles, got him in their sights, then turned the rifles around and went…BAM! You want to learn one thing from this whole fiasco? If you’re going to hire a lawyer to nail somebody, you don’t hire somebody like Ken Starr. If you want to get somebody, and he was an asshole, you don’t hire a BIGGER asshole! ’Cause then the bigger asshole makes the asshole look like it’s just a rectum.

 * If it weren’t for my horse, I wouldn’t have spent that year in college.

The End of the Universe (2002)

 * I'd rather go ice fishing, which is the dumbest thing a man can do. You're sitting essentially in an out house and it's 30 below. You've cut a hole in the ice, and you're fishing for fish that you shouldn't eat, ‘cause any fish that is down there is fucking stupid.

 * Can somebody explain to me why Pepsi and Coke advertise? Are we missing something? Seriously, everyone in this room has drank enough Pepsi and Coke in their lifetime they could piss it for a week.

 * When they [N'Sync and Aerosmith] played, it wasn't music. It was the sound of chaos. I knew it was the sound of chaos because you could hear pigs being slaughtered. Women were weeping and men were gnashing their teeth, and there were sounds so horrible that I cannot repeat them to you, or you would flee from this room in horror!

 * It [The Weather Channel] is the most watched cable channel in America. I'll repeat that. It is the most watched cable channel in America.  They were worried about the terrorists immobilizing us, and a portion of our countrymen watch weather. 'Kay, you don't get any more immobile than that... unless you're in a goddamn coma. That means you're saying, "I'd go to the window, but it's too far." If you want to know what the weather is you go to a window and stick your hand out and if you want to know what the temperature is you drive by a bank.

 * Or you'll get on your cell phone, which is really smart. "Oh I'm gonna be late!" That's fuckin smart: to drive with one of those fuckin things in your hand. It's bad enough that people are in supermarkets -- "Honey, I love you." FUCK YOU, okay? Shut-up! I'm trying to buy a tomato, okay, got it? I'm even carrying mine, this piece of shit. This is Sprint. [someone cheers] Oh.. FUCK SPRINT. okay? You work for those idiots, I need to talk to you. "Every call is crystal clear." Yeah, right: to yourself! You can hear you!

 * Britney Spears comes on and she's singing about Pepsi, except you don't know what she's saying, because she can't fucking sing, so what you have is this: titty titty titty titty titty titty titty, ass ass ass, titty titty titty titty, ass, ass, BIG ASS, titty titty titty titty titty titty ass ass titty ass.

Taxed Beyond Belief (2002)

 * You know what would help the instruction form? Verbs! Verbs would be nice! Because they help you get to the end of a thought!

 * If I wanted to be bored by 6,000 pages of unreadable dreck, I'd read War and Peace four times.

 * Some of these people have come up with some very elaborate arguments [for not paying taxes]. For instance, there were these guys, in Indiana and Nebraska, and they argued that Indiana and Nebraska weren't states, which was a pretty valid argument in the late 1700s. But in 1995 and '96, well, I saw a map and at that time, trust me, Indiana and Nebraska are shitholes, but they're states. I saw them! They were right there in the middle someplace. I may not be able to point them out immediately, but I know they're there.

 * Then there was the man who declared in court, he wasn't a person. "Excuse me, sir, why haven't you paid your taxes." "Well, as you can clearly see, I am not a person." "Well, you look like a person." "No it's all done with mirrors, trust me!"

Rules of Enragement (2003)

 * I didn't fucking spend my time living through the era of Vietnam to fucking come around to this fucking time and not having learned that the goddamn situation boils down to this: If you're against the war it doesn't mean that you're f-for the other side! If people show up with signs that go, "GO IRAQ, YOU FUCKERS GO!" then you go, "Holy Shit," then you beat the fuck out of them.

 * If you don't drink 56 bottles of water a week, scientists say you should take a garden hose at the end of the week and shove it up your ass.

 * [On Dick Cheney's Halliburton severance package] He's a guy who's in charge of determining our energy policy, and he's doing it with $31 million of oil company money in his pocket. Is anybody fucking home?

 * We exhaust ourselves worrying about our health. We're obsessed with it. We worry about our health and when we worry about our health, guess what? We're not fucking healthy! We're so worried about our health that we are now the fattest group of fucks on the planet Earth! "Should I eat this or should I eat this? Well, I'll have to eat both!"

 * Health clubs aren't healthy. In New York City, which has the most stairs of anywhere in the country, people pay money to go to a health club and use a stair master. When you live in a city, that has nothing but stairs and you pay money to use special stairs, that is not healthy behavior. It's fucking PSYCHOTIC!

 * Halfway through the winter, I decided I didn't want to be a comic anymore. I wanted to be a bear. Because bears are more evolved. It gets cold, and what does the bear do? He goes, "Well, I'm going to bed! This blows!" And then it gets warm and he goes, "Well, fuck, time to wake up!"

 * They've gotta stop reporting wind chill. That's nonsense. It really is. I don't know where they came up with it, why they came up with it, but it's a lie. They come on, "Well, it's 27 degrees today, but with the wind chill, it's minus 3." … WELL, THEN IT'S MINUS 3, ASSHOLE! I don't need to know what the weather was like if the conditions were perfect!

 * There are no fights in Ireland, people just get so drunk they go, "GODDAMN, YA SONOFABITCH!" and pass out. And there's no Alcoholics Anonymous there, because if there's a meeting, it's always at the bar.

Black on Broadway (2004)

 * Tom Ridge... is someone who has the leadership qualities of a gerbil. He was a part of coming up with is known as the color coded system of security. You know, orange, and yellow, and what ever the fuck the others are. And what's stupid about it is they have the color coding. LIKE WE'RE IN FUCKIN' ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!! There's no need for that. Because every time they tell us what the color is, then they have to fuckin' explain it, so get rid of the fuckin' color! Simplify it. There should be three levels of security: "Jesus Christ," "God damn it!," "FUCK ME!"

 * I was amazed to realize that we're the only country that tells the rest of the world, on a nearly constant basis, that we are the greatest country on Earth. And that... is a little fuckin' obnoxious. And I know it's obnoxious, because if you were in an office and there was someone there who came in every day and said "I'M THE GREATEST FUCKER HERE! AND YOU SNIFFLING SHITS WOULD DIE WITHOUT ME! AHAHAHA!", I can guarantee by the end of the week... you'd have killed him, and eaten him, just to try to possess his power!

 * The amazing thing is there are people who've never left this country who talk about the fact that we're the greatest country on Earth. How fucking dumb is that?! Cuz you don't know, if you haven't left here you don't know. There are countries that may be giving shit away every day! Canada's one of those countries. You know what they give away? HEALTH INSURANCE!

 * Is milk good or bad?... I rest my case. You don't know. You don't know anymore, and a lot of you are sitting there thinking "Fuck, I'm an adult, I don't have to drink that shit anymore!" When I was a kid, you knew milk was good, 'cause there was only one kind of milk: Moo-Cow fuck milk, and that was it.

 * "Acidophilus milk"?! What the fuck are you talking about?! "Acidophilus milk"?! Milk doesn't need a friend! That shit belongs in the yogurt section! "Lactose-intolerant milk"?! Kiss my DICK! If you're lactose-intolerant, you can't drink milk. So what's in the fucking carton? Get it outta there, get it away from my milk! It is talking to my milk and making it feel bad about itself!

 * There's no such thing as soy milk. It's soy juice. But they couldn't sell soy juice, so they called it soy milk. Because anytime you say "soy juice", you actually start to gag. And they put soy milk in with my Moo-Cow fuck milk, and it doesn't belong there, because we all know there's no soy milk, 'cause there's no soy titty, is there?

 * Everyone of you has a health that is unique and totally different from everybody else. Completely! Because we... are all like snowflakes.

 * [on WMDs in Iraq] If they couldn't find the weapons, which were the reason we went to war, then why didn't they make something up? Why did they stop lying?! My government has always lied to me; I'm comfortable with that! Son of a bitch! What's so tough?! They could have done it simply! Just send two kids to Kinko's - "I need a picture of a camel WITH A NUCLEAR WEAPON ON ITS BACK!"

 * It was the coldest winter ever! I thought last winter was the coldest winter ever, but I was fucking wrong, wasn't I? You see, because I travel all the time. So last winter, I'd be in the midwest, and the blizzard would hit. And then I'd fly home, AND THE BLIZZARD WOULD HIT AGAIN!

 * And even if they hadn't told me, I would have known it was the coldest winter ever. Because I have not had one thought! I have not been able to complete a sentence in my own head! I find myself walking around going "You know what, I should really... FUCK, IT'S COLD!"

 * [on Public Works Projects] You see what I felt they should have done for our first public works project is build a giant wall across the entire border of Canada...because THAT'S where the cold air comes from!

Nothing’s Sacred (2005)

 * Now, most of the time you couldn't be too sure of the quality of the drug. Although, in my experience the stuff was always of a very high quality, because back then we didn't have business majors peddling lower-quality stuff in an effort to increase profits.

 * This book is dedicated to all of my friends who helped me get to where I am today - you know who you are.... and when I find you I am going to kill you.

 * How our government works... it doesn't.

 * The only thing dumber than a Democrat or a Republican is when those pricks work together. You see, in our two-party system, the Democrats are the party of no ideas and the Republicans are the party of bad ideas. It usually goes something like this. A Republican will stand up in Congress and say, "I've got a really bad idea." And a Democrat will immediately jump to his feet and declare, "And I can make it shittier."

 * I'm not big on Halloween. I never have been. As a kid my parents would send me out to collect for UNICEF, which just screws up the whole holiday. You're wearing a costume and people are giving you pennies and you're going, "Well, give me some candy, you fuck." And the grown-ups tell you, "Absolutely not. You've got your pennies. Now go build a village, you little shit." It still brings a tear to my eye.

 * I don't believe pumpkin pie is even made from pumpkin. I mean, how can something that smells that shitty make a pie so sweet? There's not enough sugar in the universe.

 * There are things about the Jewish religion that I carry with me to this day. Chief among them is Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, as it's so happily called. It had a profound effect on my innocent young mind. The service opens with the organ playing "Kol Nidre," one of the spookiest pieces of music ever written. You hear it and literally are surprised bats and shit aren't flying around.

 * The Catholics have it right. I love what they do. That whole "the pope's infallible" thing is tremendous. Let's face facts: If you took somebody with no religious leanings whatsoever and locked that person in a psych ward with nobody around and no stimuli, the Catholic church is exactly what he'd come up with. "Listen to this. There's this old guy in a dress, see? He wears all these great costumes and wherever he says about anything from birth control to what to watch on television, that's it, 'cause pope knows best. He can't lift his head up, but, fuck, he's a genius.

Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blues (2005)

 * And I will tell you, because I was six feet from the TV set, that no one—no one—saw a tit. There was no titty to be seen. I know that's a fact, because I'm a guy that, if there's a titty, I'm the first one to look. And if you actually thought that you saw a titty, then... you were desperate to see one. Much like someone crossing a desert might see the mirage of water.

 * And then the next morning, I awoke at 8 o'clock and turned on the TV, and watched as my beloved country... lost its goddamn mind. There they were, every news station: "HOLY GOD! Did you see what happened at the halftime show yesterday?! Janet Jackson's breast was exposed, it was horrifying—let's take a look at it! It was terrible! Let's look at it again! It was disgusting! Can we see that tit again? The Goodyear Blimp flew over and we got a shot of the tit right from the Blimp, let's look at that tit! It's 5:02, we haven't seen the tit since 5:00, let's look at that again!" And then Congress—which doesn't do SHIT—stops on a dime! "HOLY GOD! Did you see the tit?! Let's talk about the tit!" And they locked themselves in, and they probably got huge pictures of the tit so they can get a closer look at the tit—"See how big that tit is?! It's insane how big that tit is!" They spent so much time looking at that tit that I actually thought Osama bin Laden was hiding in it!

 * And then, one by one, they came onto the screen late in the day to pontificate about how we were going into a moral sewer. How this image of a breast at a family halftime show was not only disgusting, it was disturbing, it was shocking, it was indecent. I thought "Uh, it's just a tit. And none of those adjectives really fucking apply."

 * But what about the children, Lewis? I can hear some of you asking. What about the children? It's more disturbing for the child to hear adults talking about seeing a tit as being disturbing and disgusting and indecent and shocking than it is for a child to see one. You know? There is no child who, when a breast is exposed to them accidentally, has suffered a moral epileptic seizure.

 * And part of the problem is, those who lead us do not remember at all what it was like to be a child. I know what it was like when I was nine. And when I was nine, my life was devoted to seeing a tit. I was Captain Ahab, and it was my big white whale. I'd go down to Sears on a Saturday in hopes that they'd remove the clothing from a mannequin. Sad but true. Sad, but fuckin' true. And most kids, I can guarantee, were not damaged by seeing a breast. Most kids probably said "Son of a bitch! I can't wait to see the other one!"

 * You don't want another Enron? Here's the law: If you have a company, and it can't explain, in one sentence... what it does... it's illegal!

 * The Pledge of Allegiance, ultimately, is coffee for elementary school students. "...And to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. FUCK, I'm at SCHOOL! Can we say it again? I need a second cup."

 * Music is like a drug; when you hear it, you have a vision. And that vision can change over time or remain the same. You know, that first time you’re in love and you hear a love song and every time you think about it you have that vision of your special someone. And then two years later, after you broke up, you’re at the bar. And you hear that song and you go, "Son of a bitch... I’ll have a Jaeger."

 * Michael Jackson? That's all I gotta say. ...He's become a punchline. He has! Michael Jackson is a punchline. To any joke you want. If you ever forget the punchline to a joke, all you gotta say is 'Michael Jackson.' "Two Jews walk into a bar... Michael Jackson!" "Why did the chicken cross the road? Michael Jackson!" "So the farmer brings his daughter to the dinner table--Michael Jackson!" It works for fucking anything!

 * Arnold Schwarzenegger is the governor of your state. How am I, as a comedian, supposed to create a reality that encompasses that?

Last Laugh ‘05 (2005)

 * Well first of all, I'd just like to say that 2005 was a great year, if you like swimming through crap.

 * The argument we have about abortion is not about abortion. It's about when life begins. And we argue it, and we argue, and we argue! And I say we take all the people who think they know and yell and scream and they're sure when life begins and they're sure when life ends, and we lock them in a room. And we tell them to figure it out. And they don't come out until they do. And if they can't, then we kill them.
 * The one thing I think we learned this year is that the Democrats and the Republicans are completely worthless.

The Carnegie Hall Performance (2006)

 * The toughest thing about performing here is, where do you go from here? Next week, I'm at the Fort Lauderdale Performing Arts Center.

 * I'm only allowed to say 'fuck' twelve times.

 * I don't know if you realize, but I use the word "Fuck," so that I can think of other stuff.

 * Maybe there are a group of gay banditos... who, every night climb into a van and go from village to dell, from community to community. They wander, and as the sun is coming down, just setting over a suburban village, the gays drive in. And there in a cul-de-sac, there in the light of a house, you can see a young American family, sitting down for their evening meal. And those gays... put on their masks and their festive colored robes, and sneak slowly into the house... and begin to FUCK EACH OTHER IN THE ASS! AND ANOTHER AMERICAN FAMILY IS DESTROYED!

 * [On Yom Kippur] The rabbi intones that today is the day that God will put your name in the Book of Life... or the Book of DEATH. I'm five, and I'm going, "Uhhh, what the fuck is that? The book of WHAT?!?" Death? Death was not anything that had ever occurred to me. My greatest fear was that my parents were going to leave me in a grocery store.

 * I was on CNN in Atlanta at one o'clock in the afternoon because apparently everybody else was asleep, and they asked me what I thought of CNN and I said, "I liked CNN until you started that writing on the bottom." I don't know why it's there. Why do you put writing on a television set? We watch TV... BECAUSE WE DON'T WANNA READ! We want somebody to read the shit to us so we can close our eyes and touch our nuts!

 * iPod [sic] now has music on a fucking credit card. Eventually they'll have it so that you wear underwear and you just hear it in your head.

 * I will tell you something I know. Frozen embryos?  Guess what?!  THEY'RE NOT ALIVE!  AT ALL!  They're frozen!  They're frozen!  They're frozen!  They're frozen!  They're frozen!  They are frozen!  They're frozen!  It's not a question!  It's not up for fucking discussion!  Don't allow that fucking idiot in the White House to say, "Whoa, no, they're...."  THEY'RE NOT ALIVE, ASSHOLE!  You can defrost one, like a mini-pizza - IT'S STILL NOT ALIVE!  It has the potential for life, that's what it has!  But otherwise, it's a mini-pizza!  If frozen embryos are alive, we should assign National Guard troops to go to every grocery store and stand in front of the frozen foods, screaming, "Back off!  Back off!  The clam strips could come back to life!"  [pause]  Ooooh.  I, uhhh, I saw a blue sky in my head for a minute.

 * If you are an adult, and you are planning to dress up on Halloween...don't. I will find you.  I will hurt you.

 * You are an adult, and you can dress up whenever you want to. You don't need permission anymore!  If you wake up next Tuesday, and you feel like being Batman, go for it!  And then you go to work, and your boss will look up and go "who are you," and you can say..."I am Batman.  That's who I am, who are you?"

Red, White, and Screwed (2006)

 * I was home alone watching George Bush speak on television. So it was just really the two of us. And as I listened to him, I realized, that one of us... was nuts! And for the first time ever, I went "Wow, it's not me!"

 * Here's why I think there's something a little odd with George [Bush]. Because a lot of the times when he speaks, his words don't match his face. Something is askew. You can't talk about the war with a smile on your face. He does it constantly. If you're the President, you should go "We're going to talk about the war, I must have a frowny face." The only time you can smile when you're talking about the war in Iraq is when you go, "Well, two Iraqis walk into a bar, hahaha."

 * I should have known earlier about President Bush, but I gave him some rope - a lot of rope, and then he hung all of us with it. I should have known it when I heard him say "When it comes to evolution, the jury is still out." What jury, where? The Scopes Trial is over.

 * [on the creation myth] This is a wonderful story that was told to the people in the desert, in order to distract them from the fact that they did not have air conditioning. I would love to have the faith to believe that it took place in seven days, but... I have thoughts. And that can really fuck up the faith thing. Just ask any Catholic priest.

 * [about how the Earth was created] And then there are fossils. Whenever anybody tries to tell me that they believe it took place in seven days, I reach for a fossil and go "Fossil!" And if they keep talking, I throw it just over their head.

 * There are people who believe that dinosaurs and men lived together, that they roamed the Earth at the same time. There are museums that children go to, in which they build dioramas to show them this. And what this is, purely and simply, is a clinical psychotic reaction. They are crazy. They are stone. Cold. Fuck. Nuts. I can't be kind about this, because these people are watching The Flinstones as if it were a documentary.

 * Dick Cheney... and that's all I gotta say. Isn't it great that we've reached that point? You don't even have to say "Dick Cheney, the Vice President who shot his friend in the face while hunting". "Dick Cheney", everybody goes "Waha!" and we move on. He went quail hunting. Quail hunting! He went hunting for quail! You do not use the words "hunt" and "quail" together in a sentence! You don't hunt for quail! You might track quail, you might walk behind them, wondering "What kind of a miserable fuck existence do you have?!" [holding up his fist] THEY'RE THIS BIG! THEY'RE TINY LITTLE BIRDS! They barely fuck fly! And they clip their wings! They clip their wings, so they couldn't fly any higher than ten feet, are you fucking kidding me?! Unbelievable. And you shoot them with bird shot. Not like a BB gun, which would do the job. No, bird shot which is just a spray of fucking metal and shit, just... [does hand gesture and blows raspberry] And then you gotta wait till the dust clears: "Did I hit anything?!" Going quail hunting is like saying "I'm going fishing," and going to a goldfish bowl and going "Got it!"... I, uh, am not a hunter. For those of you that probably thought "Wow, he'd look good in orange."

 * They were hunting in a place that rich people pay to hunt at, okay? They actually... they drive them to where the animals are! That is not fucking hunting! There's a fence around the place! Son of a bitch! They means they go, when they're tracking the deer, "Oh, look, we got 'em in the corner!" They turned a petting zoo into Auschwitz!

 * "Equestrian," by the by - that's the gayest word in the English language. As a matter of fact, I thought Brokeback Mountain should have been called "Two Equestrians."  There's nothing worse than going to some event that you have no interest in.  I didn't give a shit, but you gotta pretend!  I mean, what do you say at a horse show?  "Look at the cock on that one!  I'd say he's a winner, if he doesn't trip over it!"

 * North Korea is the country that the monkeys in The Wizard of Oz came from.

 * FEMA? I always thought it was a bone here in your ass.

 * [about solar energy] If you ask your congressman why, he'll say "Because it's hard. It's really hard.  Makes me want to go poopie."  You know why we don't have solar energy?  It's because the sun goes away each day, and it doesn't tell us where it's going!

 * [About the "movers and the shakers" of the government] These people are the first line of defense when it comes to the terrorist threat, but the word "shit" makes them cry. "Why didn't he say poopie?!  Why didn't he say poopie?!"

Last Laugh ‘06 (2006)

 * Wise men say that time is like a river. I say time is like a river of SHIT... and as you float down that river in your little canoe, your paddles are getting smaller and smaller.

 * Christians... get Christmas under control. Seriously. It won't stop! It doesn't stop, does it? It's always Christmas now! Make it the whole year! It's the only time you pricks are happy!

Anticipation (2008)

 * There is no better moment than this moment, when we're anticipating the actual moment itself. All of the moments that lead up to the actual moment are truly the best moments.  Those are the moments that are filled with good times.  Those are the moments in which you are able to think that it is going to be perfect, when the moment actually happens.  But, the moment is reality, and reality always kinda sucks!

 * We always feel better in anticipation. You don't think about something and think "Aw, it's gonna be shitty."  NO!  You say "This is gonna be the greatest weekend ever!  Sonuvabitch!"  And then, by Monday, you're throwing up and you're thinking "You know, I always thought those guys were pricks!"

 * I believe that the way in which we should truly live is we should think about what we're going to do, and then not do it. Your boss comes in on Monday and goes, "Hey!  You're my go-to guy — I need a report by Friday."  You go, "I'll get right on it, chief!"  And then you head back to your desk and you put your feet up and you spend the week thinking about it.  And then he comes in on Friday and goes, "Where's my report?"  And you say, with a big grin on your face, "I didn't do it!"  And he goes, "Why not?" and then you say, "Because I didn't want to disappoint you!"

 * Or... if you actually waited until you were married to lose your virginity, because you are so much a better person than the sniveling snot that we are, you were able to do that, because you were able to wait through everything, through all those feelings, all those hormones, all of that, you could wait, until that night to make love to (for the first time) to the person that you are gonna make love to for the rest of your life, because you are a gambler on a level that I have never fuckin' imagined! My hat is off to you!  Wow!  What courage!

 * [On Las Vegas audiences] Those audiences are wonderful. Talk about the most bitter group of people on the planet Earth!  For one brief shining moment, I am Mr. Happy!

 * I lost my virginity to a [record] skip. "Lay Lady Lay--Lay Lady Lay--Lay Lady Lay". We didn't even get to the big brass bed part.

Stark Raving Black (2010)

 * If anyone is as angry as I am, it's the good people of Detroit.

 * I don't know if you noticed, but our two-party system is a bowl of shit looking in the mirror at itself.

 * Why would I be excited that a Democrat won? Seriously, over the past eight years the Democrats didn't do SHIT! Basically, the last eight years, I feel, the Republicans stood around farting; and the Democrats went "Ooh, let me smell it."

 * Everybody knew there was a housing bubble. You'd fucking go to a neighbor, "Gee, that house costed $60,000 last year, and now it costs $600,000?! What did they do?!" "Well, they put a gazebo in the back."

In God We Rust (2012)

 * Now I used to have an iPhone. And it was a great computer. It was in no way a phone. Because the carrier was AT&T, and AT&T is a carrier, in much the same way as a mosquito carries malaria. I'd have been better off with a Dixie Cup and a string. I finally took it over to the Apple Store to see if there was something they could do. And let me just say: if you're interested in what life is like on other planets, you're gonna wanna get to the Apple Store. They. Are not. Of us. They. Have. No genitals. It's why they stand so close - they're sniffing you. That's how they get their data. Yes, it is. So I was standing in the Apple Store, and a capon came up to me. "I see you have an iPhone. How many applications have you downloaded into your phone?" (makes sniffing noises) "Well, I haven't downloaded any... um, I came here to see if you had an app that would turn this PIECE OF SHIT INTO A FUCKING PHONE!"

 * This is how fucked up I was: I brought a landline so I could keep my fucking phone! I broke with AT&T when they announced that you could buy, for your home, a transmitter for 200 dollars. A 200-dollar transmitter, so that you can help AT&T build the infrastructure you thought you were getting when you brought the piece of shit! I don't think-- We don't know, do we, what a cellphone does to us? Imagine what a transmitter will do! I believe that your shit'll be glowing in a week! "Honey, have we been eating phosphorous?!" Here's the kicker: AT&T is then gonna charge you twelve dollars a month to use the transmitter you already brought from them, so that AT&T successfully turns your cellphone BACK INTO A FUCKING LANDLINE, ASSHOLE!

 * So I went down to Verizon, and I got myself a Droid. (audience cheers, and then laughs as he gives them an incredulous look) Don't you ever... ever... applaud an inanimate object again.

 * What did you think I was gonna do, launch into some commercial for this? "Oh yeah, I couldn't be happier. When I got my Droid, it changed my life! Three days later, I accepted Christ into my heart as my one true savior! And Droid is the one with the Jesus app! Even if you get rid of it, every Easter Sunday he comes back again!"

 * When you turned it on, it said its name: "Droid." I keep it here in my pocket. I wish it would say "Groin", then I'd always know where it is. I don't think it's really smart to keep a phone this large and a screen that big right next to your nutsack. I believe my sperm are dying. I hear them weeping every morning. "Son of a bitch, Lou! It's hot as hell down here! Goddammit, it's like the sun is out twenty-four hours a day! Get us some water! I don't think we're gonna make it to the top of the hill again!"

Inside Out (2015)

 * Congratulations, San Francisco! You’ve ruined pizza! First the Hawaiians, and now you!
 * So that's how you wanna play it, old man? No dessert? Oh sure, we'll eat our dinner, right after you eat THIS!
 * This is madness!
 * Can I say that curse word now?

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Lewis Black


text:
Harry Chapin

Harold Forster Chapin (7 December 1942 – 16 July 1981) was an American singer, songwriter, and social activist.

Quotes

 * I spent a week there one afternoon.
 * About the city of Watertown, New York featured in "A Better Place to Be"

 * I never really drove a cab, but I do have a hack license in case of emergencies – like no money.
 * "Chapin Takes 'Taxi' Wherever He Can", Rolling Stone (July 6, 1972)

 * The major thing I'm afraid of is being 65 and saying, 'Gee, I wish I had done this and that, and that.' I want to face old age knowing I've tried all I wanted to try.
 * "Chapin Takes 'Taxi' Wherever He Can", Rolling Stone (July 6, 1972)

 * This commitment to end world hunger, and my music and story songs, are ways of dealing with the world as I see it. I'm playing 200 concerts per year-- half of them benefits-- all of them attempts at getting across the footlights to people I would enjoy spending time with in non-concert situations. And over the past 4 years of musical fun, millions of dollars have been raised for things I believe in. Telling stories of our time, building a lasting body of work, new songs, new records, new audiences, new challenges, and still that painfully exciting process of growth that can make one's life into a richly woven tapestry.
 * All My Life's a Circle, Autobiographical statement on a concert program, circa 1980

Heads & Tales (1972)

 * It took a while, but she looked in the mirror, And she glanced at the license for my name. A smile seemed to come to her slowly, It was a sad smile, just the same. And she said, "How are you Harry?" I said, "How are you Sue? Through the too many miles and the too little smiles I still remember you."
 * Taxi

 * There was not much more for us to talk about, Whatever we had once was gone. So I turned my cab into the driveway, Past the gate and the fine trimmed lawns. And she said we must get together, But I knew it'd never be arranged. And she handed me twenty dollars, For a two fifty fare, she said "Harry, keep the change." Well another man might have been angry, And another man might have been hurt, But another man never would have let her go... I stashed the bill in my shirt.
 * Taxi

 * '''And she walked away in silence, It's strange, how you never know, But we'd both gotten what we'd asked for, Such a long, long time ago.
 * Taxi

 * You see, she was gonna be an actress And I was gonna learn to fly. She took off to find the footlights, And I took off for the sky. And here, she's acting happy, Inside her handsome home. And me, I'm flying in my taxi, Taking tips, and getting stoned, I go flying so high, when I'm stoned.
 * Taxi

Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972)

 * He looks at the city where no one had known him. He looks at the sky where no one looks down. He looks at his life and what it has shown him. He looks for his shadow it cannot be found.
 * Sniper

 * And the broad who served the whisky She was a big old friendly girl. And she tried to fight her empty nights By smilin' at the world.
 * Better Place to Be

 * I am the midnight watchman down at Miller's Tool and Die. And I watch the metal rusting, and I watch the time go by. A week ago at the diner I stopped to get a bite. And this here lovely lady she sat two seats from my right. And Lord, Lord, Lord she was alright. Oh she was so damned beautiful that she'd warm a winter's frost. But she was long past lonely, and well nigh unto lost. Now I'm not much of a mover, or a pick-em-up easy guy, But I decided to glide on over, and give her one good try. And Lord, Lord, Lord she was worth a try.
 * Better Place to Be

 * And it shamed me into silence, as quietly she said, "If you want me to come with you, then that's all right with me. Cause I know I'm going nowhere, and anywhere's a better place to be. Anywhere's a better place to be."
 * Better Place to Be

 * The moonlight shown upon her as she lay back in my bed. It was the kind of scene I only had imagined in my head. I just could not believe it, to think that she was real. And as I tried to tell her she said "Shhh.. I know just how you feel. And if you want to come here with me, then that's all right with me. 'Cause I've been oh so lonely, lovin' someone is a better way to be. anywhere's a better way to be."
 * Better Place to Be

 * The waitress took a bar rag, and she wiped it across her eyes. And as she spoke her voice came out as something like a sigh. She said "I wish that I was beautiful, or that you were halfway blind. And I wish I weren't so dog-gone fat, I wish that you were mine. And I wish that you'd come with me, when I leave for home. For we both know all about loneliness, and livin' all alone."
 * Better Place to Be

 * All my life's a circle; Sunrise and sundown; Moon rolls thru the nighttime; Till the daybreak comes around.
 * Circle

 * All my life's a circle; But I can't tell you why; Season's spinning round again; The years keep rollin' by.
 * Circle

 * No straight lines make up my life; And all my roads have bends; There's no clear-cut beginnings; And so far no dead-ends.
 * Circle

 * I found you a thousand times; I guess you done the same; But then we lose each other; It's like a children's game; As I find you here again; A thought runs through my mind; Our love is like a circle; Let's go 'round one more time.
 * Circle

Short Stories (1974)

 * Short stories that's all it's ever been Don't you worry 'bout the ending Babe, before we begin I have seen the sun That's behind the rain I have felt the joy That's behind the pain.
 * Short Stories

 * You know I need a dream Like I need my breath We need to take the life Before we get the death You know I need your love Like I need the light Yes I need the chance Can it be tonight?
 * Short Stories

 * I am the morning DJ... At W.O.L.D. Playin' all the hits for you... Wherever you may be. The bright good morning voice... Who is heard, but never seen! Feelin' all of 45.... Goin' on 15.
 * W*O*L*D

 * Sometimes I get this crazy dream And I just take off in my car But you can travel on ten thousand miles And still stay where you are.
 * W*O*L*D

 * Music was his life, it was not his livelihood, And it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good. And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul. He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.
 * Mr. Tanner

 * Mr. Martin Tanner, a baritone, of Dayton, Ohio made his Town Hall debut last night. He came well prepared, but unfortunately his presentation was not up to contemporary professional standards. His voice lacks the range of tonal color necessary to make it consistently interesting. Full time consideration of another endeavor might be in order.
 * Mr. Tanner

Verities & Balderdash (1974)

 * My child arrived just the other day, He came to the world in the usual way. But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay. He learned to walk while I was away. And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew, He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad. You know I'm gonna be like you."
 * Cat's in the Cradle, written with his wife Sandy Chapin

 * And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon, Little boy blue and the man in the moon. "When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when, But we'll get together then. You know we'll have a good time then."
 * Cat's in the Cradle

 * I've long since retired and my son's moved away. I called him up just the other day. I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind." He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time. You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's have the flu, But it's sure nice talking to you, dad. It's been sure nice talking to you." And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me, He'd grown up just like me. My boy was just like me.
 * Cat's in the Cradle

 * I come fresh from the street, fast on my feet, kind a lean and lazy; not much meat on my bones, and a whole lot alone, and more than a little bit crazy. The old six string was all I had to keep my belly still, and for each full hour lesson I gave I got a crisp ten dollar bill.
 * I Wanna Learn a Love Song

 * She was married for seven years to a concrete castle king. She said she wanted to learn to play the guitar and to hear her children sing. So I'd show up about once a week in my faded tight-legged jeans with a backlog full of hobo stories and dilapidated dreams.
 * I Wanna Learn a Love Song

 * She said, "I wanna learn a love song full of happy things." She said, "I wanna learn a love song; won't you let me hear you sing?" She said, "I wanna learn a love song, I wanna hear you play." She said, "I wanna learn a love song before you go away."
 * I Wanna Learn a Love Song

 * Oh, he was the sun burning bright and brittle And she was the moon shining back his light a little He was a shooting star She was softer and more slowly He could not make things possible But, she could make them holy.
 * Shooting Star

 * He was dancing to some music No one else had ever heard He'd speak in unknown languages She would translate every word And then when the world was laughing At his castles in the sky She'd hold him in her body Till he once again could fly.
 * Shooting Star

 * He was a young driver, just out on his second job. And he was carrying the next day's pasty fruits for everyone in that coal-scarred city where children play without despair in backyard slag-piles and folks manage to eat each day about thirty thousand pounds of bananas...
 * 30,000 Pounds of Bananas

 * He was picking speed as the city spread its twinkling lights below him. But he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts of the nights delights went through him. His foot nudged the brakes to slow him down. But the pedal floored easy without a sound. He said "Christ!" It was funny how he had named the only man who could save him now. He was trapped inside a dead-end hellslide, riding on his fear-hunched back was every one of those yellow green I'm telling you thirty thousand pounds of bananas. Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
 * 30,000 Pounds of Bananas

 * And he said "God, make it a dream!" as he rode his last ride down. And he sideswiped nineteen neat parked cars, clipped off thirteen telephone poles, hit two houses, bruised eight trees, and Blue-Crossed seven people. it was then he lost his head, not to mention an arm or two before he stopped.
 * 30,000 Pounds of Bananas

 * You know the man who told me about it on the bus, as it went up the hill out of Scranton, Pennsylvania, he shrugged his shoulders, he shook his head, and he said (and this is exactly what he said) "Boy that sure must've been something. Just imagine thirty thousand pounds of bananas. Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of mashed bananas. Of bananas. Just bananas. Thirty thousand pounds. of Bananas—not no driver now. Just bananas!"
 * 30,000 Pounds of Bananas

 * She sings the songs without words Songs that sailors, and blind men, and beggars have heard She knows more of love than the poets can say And her eyes are for something that won't go away.
 * She Sings Songs Without Words

 * It was the town that made America famous. The churches full and the kids all gone to hell. Six traffic lights and seven cops and all the streets kept clean. The supermarket and the drug store and the bars all doing well.
 * What Made America Famous?

 * Something's burning somewhere. Does anybody care?
 * What Made America Famous?

 * We were the kids that made America famous. The kind of kids that long since drove our parents to dispair. We were lazy long hairs dropping out, lost confused, and copping out. Convinced our futures were in doubt and trying not to care.
 * What Made America Famous?

 * I went to sleep with the hope that made America famous. I had the kind of a dream that maybe they're still trying to teach in school. Of the America that made America famous...and Of the people who just might understand That how together yes we can Create a country better than The one we have made of this land, We have a choice to make each man who dares to dream, reaching out his hand A prophet or just a crazy God damn Dreamer of a fool.
 * What Made America Famous?

 * There's a vacancy, won't you come to me And fill my empty spaces I'm a motel man in a promised land That's filled with empty faces So won't you bring your sorrows bring your dreams, It's a place for you to be There's no more tomorrow or that's how it seems Won't you come to me? I've got a vacancy
 * Vacancy

 * The very day I purchased it, I christened my guitar as my monophonic symphony, six string orchestra.
 * Six String Orchestra

 * I'd play at all the talent nights, I'd finish, they'd applaud. Some called it muffled laughter, I just figured they were odd. So I went up for an encore, but they screamed they'd had enough. Or maybe I just need a group to help me do my stuff.
 * Six String Orchestra

 * And so I'd dream a bass will join me, and fill the bottom in. And maybe now some lead guitar so it would not sound so thin. I need some drums to set the beat and help me keep in time. And way back in the distance, some strings would sound so fine.
 * Six String Orchestra

 * And we would play together, like fine musicians should, And it would sound like music, and the music would sound good. But in real life I'm stuck with that same old formula, me and my monophonic symphony, six string orchestra.
 * Six String Orchestra

Portrait Gallery (1975)

 * "The rock is gonna fall on us," he stood and told the class The professor put his chalk down and peered out through his glasses But he went on and said; "I've seen it, high up on the hill If it doesn't fall this year then very soon it will!"
 * The Rock

 * We've more important studies than your fantasies and fears You know that rock's been perched up there for a hundred thousand years.
 * The Rock

 * He went up on the mountain beside the giant stone They knew he was insane so they left him alone He'd given up enlisting help for there was no one else He spent his days devising ways to stop the rock himself One night while he was working building braces on the ledge The ground began to rumble the rock trembled on the edge.
 * The Rock

 * But high up on the mountain When the wind is hitting it If you're watching very closely The rock slips a little bit...
 * The Rock

On the Road to Kingdom Come (1976)

 * The Mayor of Candor lied When he offered me his only daughter The Mayor of Candor tried To take her off across the water What a thing to do to a young man in love What a thing to do to your daughter.
 * The Mayor of Candor Lied

 * I was quite surprised to find out all the places that he knew And so I asked the townfolk if his stories were true They said— Old John was born here, he's lived here all his life He's never had a woman, let alone a wife. And very soon you'll find out as you check around That no one named Corey's ever lived in this town So I chided the old man 'bout the truth that I had heard He smiled and said— Reality is only just a word.
 * Corey's Coming

 * They put the cold dirt over him and left me on my own And when at last I looked up I saw I was not alone So I said— If you're a relative, he had a peaceful end. She said— My name is Corey— you can say I'm just a friend.
 * Corey's Coming

 * Corey's coming, no more sad stories coming My midnight-moonlight-morning-glory's coming aren't you girl? And like I told you, when she holds you She enfolds you in her world.
 * Corey's Coming

Dance Band on the Titanic (1977)

 * I'm in the Dance Band on the Titanic Singing "Nearer my God to thee" and the icebergs on the starboard bow Won't you dance with me?
 * Dance Band On the Titanic

 * You see, I have no real complaints of how you've left your past behind I guess what gets me worried is you've erased him from your mind.
 * I Wonder What Happened to Him

 * You see, dream-lover of a lady, what shakes me to the core Is the thought as you caress me, you've done this all before I think about the future with me out and others in Will I, too, have disappeared like I've never ever been?
 * I Wonder What Happened to Him

 * Strum your guitar sing it kid Just write about your feelings not the things you never did Inexperience, it once had cursed me But your youth is no handicap it's what makes you thirsty
 * There Only Was One Choice

 * When I started this song I was still thirty-three The age that Mozart died and sweet Jesus was set free Keats and Shelley too soon finished, Charley Parker would be And I fantasized some tragedy'd be soon curtailing me Well just today I had my birthday I made it thirty-four Mere mortal, not immortal, not star-crossed anymore I've got this problem with my aging I no longer can ignore A tame and toothless tabby can't produce a lion's roar.
 * There Only Was One Choice

 * Hello my Country I once came to tell everyone your story Your passion was my poetry And your past my most potent glory Your promise was my prayer Your hypocrisy my nightmare And your problems fill my present Are we both going somewhere?
 * There Only Was One Choice

 * Step right up young lady Your two hundred birthdays make you old if not senile And we see the symptoms there in your rigor mortis smile With your old folks eating dog food and your children eating paint While the pirates own the flag and sell us sermons on restraint.
 * There Only Was One Choice

 * And while blood's the only language that your deaf old ears can hear And still you will not answer with that message coming clear Does it mean there's no more ripples in your tired old glory stream And the buzzards own the carcass of your dream?
 * There Only Was One Choice

 * Good dreams don't come cheap You've got to pay for them.
 * There Only Was One Choice

Living Room Suite (1978)

 * Oh God they got you gun shy You know your skin's as cold as ice Your eyes are double filtered babe You're so afraid to be nice There's no way you're ready To let your defenses down Though I won't come on heavy There is a lesson that I've found.
 * If You Want to Feel

 * If you try to look But you don't touch Then you won't touch But you'll never feel And if you don't feel You'll never cry And if you don't cry Then you'll never heal.
 * If You Want to Feel

 * There are lessons to life That the lovers got to learn There are corners out there You know they're waitin' somewhere And you've got to be prepared to turn There are callouses that come That the lovers got to earn In the years of your youth You can't be fire proof You know you've got to get burned.
 * If You Want to Feel

 * Now if a man tried To take his time on Earth And prove before he died What one man's life could be worth, Well I wonder what would happen to this world.
 * I Wonder What Would Happen to this World

 * And if a woman She used a life line As something more than Some man's servant mother wife time Well I wonder what would happen to this world.
 * I Wonder What Would Happen to this World

 * And if our future Lies on the final line Are we brave enough To see the signals and the signs?
 * I Wonder What Would Happen to this World

 * If we say that no one's out there And we say we're goin' nowhere And we avoid the question Is this all that it means?
 * I Wonder What Would Happen to this World

 * Oh, if a man tried To take his time on earth And prove before he died What one man's life could be worth, I wonder what would happen to this world.
 * I Wonder What Would Happen to this World

 * And I know you're frightened By my laughter But you're not afraid To hold my pain You see I'm never sure Just what you're after, Babe But it seems you only love me When it rains. How come you only love me when it rains?
 * It Seems You Only Love Me When It Rains

 * Why did the little girls grow crippled While the little boys grow strong The boys allowed to come of age The girls just came along The girls were told sing harmonies The boys could all sing songs That's why little girls grew crippled While little boys grew strong.
 * Why Do Little Girls?

 * Why were the little girls all frightened To be just what they are The boys were told to ask themselves How high how far The girls were told to reach the shelves While the boys were reaching stars That's why little girls were frightened To be just what they are.
 * Why Do Little Girls?

 * The little boy went first day of school He got some crayons and started to draw He put colors all over the paper For colors was what he saw And the teacher said.. "What you doin' young man?" "I'm paintin' flowers" he said She said... "It's not the time for art young man And anyway flowers are green and red There's a time for everything young man And a way it should be done You've got to show concern for everyone else For you're not the only one."
 * Flowers are Red

 * And she said... "Flowers are red young man Green leaves are green There's no need to see flowers any other way Than they way they always have been seen."
 * Flowers are Red

 * But the little boy said... "There are so many colors in the rainbow So many colors in the morning sun So many colors in the flowers and I see every one."
 * Flowers are Red

 * But there still must be a way to have our children say... "There are so many colors in the rainbow So many colors in the morning sun So many colors in the flower and I see every one." (Live version)
 * Flowers are Red

 * Somebody said...We got to find the words Got to, got to be an answer there Somebody said that...You never get heard 'Cause nobody really cares.
 * Somebody Said

 * Somebody said...Where are the dreamers Somebody said...Dead Somebody said...Here comes the holy rollers Tryin' to sell us all the screamers instead.
 * Somebody Said

Sequel (1981)
Sequel to Taxi

 * You see, ten years ago it was the front seat Drivin' stoned and feelin' no pain. Now here I am straight and sittin' in the back Hitting Sixteen Parkside Lane.
 * Sequel

 * And the look on her face as she opened the door Was like an old joke told by a friend. It'd taken ten more years but she'd found her smile And I watched the corners start to bend.
 * Sequel

 * She said I've heard you flying high on my radio I answered "It's not all it seems" That's when she laughed and she said, "It's better sometimes When we don't get to touch our dreams."
 * Sequel

 * That's when I asked her where was that actress She said "That was somebody else" And then I asked her why she looked so happy now She said "I finally like myself, at last I like myself."
 * Sequel

 * I guess it's a sequel to our story From the journey 'tween heaven and hell With half the time thinking of what might have been and half thinkin' just as well. I guess only time will tell.
 * Sequel

 * And the wind will whip your tousled hair, The sun, the rain, the sweet despair, Great tales of love and strife. And somewhere on your path to glory You will write your story of a life.
 * Story of a Life

 * And all the trips you know you missed And all the lips you never kissed Cut through you like a knife. And now you see stretched out before thee Just another story of a life.
 * Story of a Life

 * Now sometimes words can serve me well Sometimes words can go to hell For all that they do. And for every dream that took me high There's been a dream that's passed me by. I know it's so true And I can see it clear out to the end And I'll whisper to her now again Because she shared my life. For more than all the ghosts of glory She makes up the story, She's the only story Of my life.
 * Story of a Life

 * Remember when the music Came from wooden boxes strung with silver wire And as we sang the words, it would set our minds on fire, For we believed in things, and so we'd sing.
 * Remember When the Music

 * Oh all the times I've listened, and all the times I've heard All the melodies I'm missing, and all the magic words, And all those potent voices, and the choices we had then, How I'd love to find we had that kind of choice again.
 * Remember When the Music

 * And I feel that something's coming, and it's not just in the wind. It's more than just tomorrow, it's more than where we've been, It offers me a promise, it's telling me "Begin", I know we're needing something worth believing in.
 * Remember When the Music

title: Harry Chapin


text:
Elagabalus

Varius Avitus Bassianus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (c. 204 - March 11, 222), born Varius Avitus Bassus, and more famous as Elagabalus or Heliogabalus, was a Roman emperor of the Severan dynasty who reigned from 218 - 222.

Quotes

 * He undertook to disparage my age when he himself had appointed his ten-year-old son.
 * Referring to the Emperor Macrinus and his declaration of his son Diadumenianus to be '"Caesar". The head of Diadumenianus was presented to Elagabalus as a trophy. As quoted in Dio's Roman History (1955), as translated by Earnest Cary, p. 439

 * I am emperor. It is I who know what is best for Rome. Not you traitors. Now, let go of my horses!
 * Statement as he prepared to flee a camp after angry exchanges and insults with his Praetorian Guard; as quoted in The Gigantic Book of Horse Wisdom (2007) by Thomas Meagher, p. 298

 * Leave my mother alone!
 * Last words, as reported in The Book of Ancient Bastards: 101 of the Worst Miscreants and Misdeeds from Ancient Sumer to the Enlightenment (2011) by Brian Thornton, p. 134; his mother was also murdered, their bodies beheaded, dragged through Rome, and dumped into the Tiber river.
 * Variants:
 * Let my mother be, leave her alone!
 * As quoted in "Elagabalus: Queen of Rome" by Kim Seabrook at Prisoners of Eternity (2013)

Quotes of others about Elagabalus

 * The life of Elagabalus Antoninus, also called Varius, I should never have put in writing — hoping that it might not be known that he was emperor of the Romans — were it not that before him this same imperial office had had a Caligula, a Nero, and a Vitellius. But, just as the selfsame earth bears not only poisons but also grain and other helpful things, not only serpents but flocks as well, so the thoughtful reader may find himself some consolation for these monstrous tyrants by reading of Augustus, Trajan, Vespasian, Hadrian, Pius, Titus, and Marcus.
 * Historia Augusta

 * [He was] delighted to be called the mistress, the wife, the Queen of Hierocles.
 * Harry Benjamin in The Transsexual Phenomenon (1966)

Elagabalus is best understood as a teenager who was raised near the luxury of the imperial court and who then suffered a drastic change of fortune brought about by the sudden deaths — probably within one year — of his father, his grandfather and his cousin, the emperor Caracalla. '''Thrust upon the throne, Elagabalus lacked the required discipline. For a while, Romans may well have been amused by his "Merrie Monarch" behavior, but he ended up offending those he needed to inspire.''' His reign tragically demonstrated the difficulties of having a teenage emperor.
 * Scholars have often viewed the failure of Elagabalus' reign as a clash of cultures between "Eastern" (Syrian) and "Western" (Roman), but this dichotomy is not very useful. The criticisms of the emperor's effeminacy and sexual behavior mirror those made of earlier emperors (such as Nero) and do not need to be explained through ethnic stereotypes. With regard to religion, the emperor's promotion of the cult of the Emesene sun-god was certainly ridiculed by contemporary observers, but this cult was popular among soldiers and would remain so. Moreover, the cult continued to be promoted by later emperors of non-Syrian ethnicity, calling the god The Unconquered Sun (Sol Invictus).
 * Michael L. Meckler, in "Elagabalus (218-222 A.D.)" in De Imperatoribus Romanis : An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors (1997)

title: Elagabalus


text:
Lech Kaczyński

Lech Kaczyński (18 June 1949 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish politician; a leader of Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice) party, and the President of Poland from 2005 to 2010.

Quotes

 * Piss off, lout! (Spieprzaj, dziadu)
 * During the 2002 campaign to a tramp (4 November 2002). More details can be found in the (Polish) Wikipedia article or  (in Polish).

 * The politician has a right to defend his dignity. I ignored the first wave of invectives, but the second one was too much, I couldn't have handled it and I had said in hard (but for the street - where I was - soft) words that he should go.
 * President Kaczyński's comment on words above. (2002)

 * I haven't been wounded, but I can still feel that hit. I will not tolerate such behaviour.
 * President Kaczyński's comment on being attacked by an anarchist with a blueberry-and-cream pie after banning an LGBT Equality Parade in Warsaw (2 June 2004)

 * The promotion of homosexuality may lead to the eventual destruction of the human race.

Rzeczpospolita interview (March 2005)
Quotes from an interview appearing in Rzeczpospolita (19-21 March  2005)

 * It is necessary to restore the dignity of the presidential office and cut it off decisively from non-transparent connections... For the first time in many years, I see a chance in Poland for major change. The presidential office can guarantee that these changes are carried out without undermining the social equilibrium.

 * What we want is a moral revolution, not one that people associate with street riots and the disorganisation of life. A transformation of attitudes that will introduce a normal, moral order in the functioning of the state. An order whereby honesty is a positive value, and dishonesty a negative one.

 * I'm opposed to the idea of a flat-rate tax, and I doubt I'd sign it. Attempts to introduce a liberal utopia need to be opposed. The presidential office should oppose such ideas and care for social equilibrium to be maintained.

 * The Polish society is not composed solely of entrepreneurial and energetic young people. I can't image pensioners who get ZL600 or ZL800 a month getting even less than that. That'd be immoral.

 * It sets a path towards the elimination of nation states and the emergence of a European state in the strictest sense of the word. I'm definitely opposed to it.
 * On the EU Constitution

 * The EU isn't a loving family of European nations where everyone altruistically cares for everyone else. Various interests clash on various issues, and all kinds of coalitions are struck to push through specific solutions. I have no inhibitions here whatsoever. We can cooperate with France and Germany on some issues, and argue with, say, Spain and the UK. Realistically, however, we have to collaborate above all with those countries that want more autonomy within the EU, such as the UK or Denmark.

 * The US is a difficult partner, but an indispensable one. Everyone who have had to do with US politicians and diplomats knows they aren't easy to deal with. That is because of their immense sense of power. But an alliance with the US is absolutely necessary because of our relations with, on the one hand, Germany and France, and, on the other, Russia.

 * The Russians can be expected to carry out policies aimed at regaining their influence in Poland... I'm talking here about gas, oil, and so on. The Russians want this to be their zone of influence again, though of course on a different basis than in the past. They don't want full domination but rather an ability to exert substantial influence.

 * We have to oppose the widespread view that if the Russians are provoking us, we shouldn't react because that could be perceived as a confirmation of Poland's alleged russophobia. Let's remember that Russia is not only provoking us but also checking how far it can go. Recently it went definitely too far. We must react when we have to do with obvious nonsense, like the Russian foreign ministry's recent statement that Yalta resulted in a strong, free, and democratic Poland.

Georgia capital speech (August 12, 2008)
Warning of Russian ambition: "And we also know very well that today Georgia, tomorrow Ukraine, the day after tomorrow the Baltic States, and then maybe it's time for my country, for Poland!"

Prince Charles, to Kaczyński (March 2010)
At a dinner hosted by President Lech Kaczyński and wife Maria at the presidential palace, Charles, Prince of Wales commented:
 * I was particularly keen to do what little I could to help your country after the collapse of Communism, having for so long held a combination of profound admiration and heartfelt sympathy for the appalling suffering of the Polish people.

title: Lech Kaczyński


text:
Talk:John Lennon

The Citroen Ad
In my opinion the voice-over sounds like German dubber Frank Glaubrecht. He is the voice for Pierce Brosnan.

Discussion
Quote from the article: "[...] I was just saying it as a fact and it's true more for England than here. [...]". Where is "here"? The US? Europe, other than England? --Kooo (account in wp)
 * The quote you are referring to was from a news conference in Chicago. I am about to add that info now. ~ Achilles 00:51, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

The "genius quote" I just added was sourced from . -Barry, MN, USA

I cut out all but one of the quotes from 'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" I think that only one is really relevant. If anyone disagrees, go ahead and tack the lyrics back on there.

Unsourced
Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote on this list please move it to John Lennon. --Antiquary 21:02, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

 * I'll probably be popped off by some loony.
 * His reply when asked in the 1960's how he expected he would die.
 * See quote under Lyrics, "Come Together" Anthology 3.

 * I might have been born in Liverpool — but I grew up in Hamburg!

 * If all politicians were like Pierre Trudeau, there would be world peace.

 * "New York is what Rome used to be." he told biographer Ray Coleman.

 * If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'.

 * Love means having to say you're sorry every fifteen minutes.

 * Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it.

 * If someone thinks that peace and love is just a cliche that must have been left behind in the sixties, that's a problem. Peace and love are eternal.

 * Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.

 * I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?

 * "My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel.  Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all." - John Lennon.

 * "We all have Hitler in us, but we also have love and peace. So why not give peace a chance for once."  -John Lennon

 * "Why don't people believe us when we say we're simply in love?" -John Lennon

 * "Everything is clearer when you're in love." -John Lennon

 * " Before Yoko and I met, we were half a person. You know there's an old myth about people being half and the other half being in the sky, or in heaven or on the other side of the universe or a mirror image. But we are two halves, and together we're a whole." -John Lennon

 * "It was like being in the eye of a hurricane. You'd wake up in a  concert and think, Wow, how did I get here?"  -John Lennon

 * " The idea of being a rock and roll musician sort of suited my talents and mentality. The freedom was great, but then I found out I wasn't free.  I'd got boxed in...The whole Beatle thing is just beyond comprehension ... subconsciously I was crying for help."  -John Lennon

 * "When real music comes to me - the music of the spheres, the music that surpasses understanding - that has nothing do with me, cause I'm just the channel. The only joy for me is for it to be given to me, and to transcribe it like a medium... those moments are what I live for."  - John Lennon

 * " I always was a rebel...but on the other hand, I wanted to be loved and accepted...and not just be a loudmouth, lunatic, poet, musician. But I cannot be what I am not."  -John Lennon

 * "My defences were so great. The cocky rock and roll hero who knows all the answers was actually a terrified guy who didn't know how to cry. Simple. " -John Lennon

 * "I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?  Reality leaves a lot to the imagination."  -John Lennon

 * "If someone thinks that love and peace is a clichè that must have been left behind us in the sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal." -John Lennon

 * "When you're drowning, you don't say 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,' you just scream." -John Lennon
 * I will search for sources. Kasaalan 12:39, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

 * "When I was five years old, my Mom told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I wrote down “happy”. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment and I told them they didn’t understand life"
 * Can't find reliable source for that one --Neo139 00:19, 30 September 2011 (UTC)
 * I can't find any reliable connection to Lennon either. It seems to be a meme of recent, 21st century vintage. ~ Ningauble 13:31, 30 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Knowing anything at all about John's early life, it's impossible that he said this quote.

 * "We live in a world where we have to hide to make love, while violence is practiced in broad daylight". Many, many online mentions, all unsourced. --13.12.254.95 19:16, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

 * (Ringo)'s not even the best drummer in the beatles - unsourced, and strongly disputed by Mark Lewisohn

genuine?
is this a bona fide genuine Lennon quote? time and place?
 * "Once they have got you violent, they know how to handle you." -- Lennon

I'd say so. See:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oJ9w0x_dzo
 * Thanks for that info — I will probably add that statement to the page within a day or two, if no one else does before me, but I must be leaving now. ~ ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 20:42, 31 May 2014 (UTC)

Question: genuine?
“Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.” -- Lennon

 * No, not a Lennon quote. See: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/07/22/smiles-not-tears/

title: Talk:John Lennon


text:
User talk:221.197.16.121

This IP has been blocked from editing at Wikiquote because it has been used by a persistent vandal to post unwanted commercial advertisements here. Wikiquote is a non-profit, non-commercial, public service site, not a place for gratuitous advertising. If you are not this vandal, you can notify your Internet service provider of this activity, so that this violation of ethical standards, internet etiquette, and in some places the legal statutes can be addressed by the proper authorities. If you are this vandal and this behavior persists much longer, notifications WILL be sent to the contacts available to the Internet service providers at the CNCGROUP Tianjin province network and complaints to abuse@cnc-noc.net. If this behavior ends, no notice will be sent to any ISP by me, and after a period of two weeks these notices that have been posted here will be removed. ~ Kalki

title: User talk:221.197.16.121


text:
Popular culture

Popular culture is generally viewed in contrast to other forms of culture such as folk culture, working-class culture, or high culture.

Quotes

 * Today’s literature is prescriptions written by patients.
 * Karl Kraus, No Compromise (New York: 1977), p. 229

 * It could be that today's conservative movement remains in thrall to the same narrative that has defined its attitude toward film and the arts for decades. Inspired by feelings of exclusion after Hollywood and the popular culture turned leftward in the '60s and '70s, this narrative has defined the film industry as an irredeemably liberal institution toward which conservatives can only act in opposition—never engagement. Ironically, this narrative ignores the actual history of Hollywood, in which conservatives had a strong presence from the industry's founding in the early 20th century up through the '40s, '50s and into the mid-'60s]. The conservative Hollywood community at that time included such leading directors as Howard Hawks, Frank Capra, and Cecil B. DeMille, and major stars like John Wayne, Clark Gable, and Charlton Heston. These talents often worked side by side with notable Hollywood liberals like directors Billy Wilder, William Wyler, and John Huston, and stars like Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Spencer Tracy. The richness of classic Hollywood cinema is widely regarded as a testament to the ability of these two communities to work together, regardless of political differences. As the younger, more left-leaning "New Hollywood" generation swept into the industry in the late '60s and '70s, this older group of Hollywood conservatives faded away, never to be replaced. Except for a brief period in the '80s when the Reagan Presidency led to a conservative reengagement with film—with popular stars like Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger making macho, patriotic action films—conservatives appeared to abandon popular culture altogether. In the wake of this retreat, conservative failure to engage with Hollywood now appears to have been recast by today's East Coast conservative establishment into a generalized opposition toward film and popular culture itself. In the early '90s, conservative film critic Michael Medved codified this oppositional feeling toward Hollywood in his best-selling book Hollywood vs. America.
 * Govindini Murty, “Hey, Conservatives: It's Safe to Go to the Movies Again”, The Atlantic, (Oct. 12, 2011).

 * Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid-sixties. But now, we're about to enter the nineties, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. Our spirit is back, but we haven't reinstitutionalized it. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom-freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs production [protection].
 * Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address, 11 January 1989

 * Even more important was American influence in Europe through its music, movies, and fashion. Unlike the Soviet efforts at gaining a cultural influence, there was little that was centrally planned about this. The State Department and the CIA tried to make sure that “healthy” American films and literature were spread abroad, but their successes were limited. Instead, company marketing and consumer responses ruled the roost. The ability of US film studios and record producers to make their output inexpensive and plentiful, while Europe suffered all kinds of shortages, also gave imports an advantage. In 1947, for instance, only forty French films were made, while 340 were imported from the United States. Though the music of Elvis Presley or the movies of Marlon Brando or James Dean were not set up to be propaganda for the American way of life, young Europeans liked them, in part because of their rebelliousness. Wearing T-shirts and blue jeans merged a form of protest against convention with identifying with US movies. In the mid-1950s, American and European teenagers were more united by Brando than by NATO.
 * Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War: A Global History (2017)

title: Popular culture