“At a time when pimpery, lick-spittlery, and picking the public's pocket are the order of the day — indeed, officially proclaimed as virtue — the poet must play the madcap to keep his balance. And ours.”

—  Studs Terkel

On Nelson Algren, Talking to Myself Bk. 4 (1973)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "At a time when pimpery, lick-spittlery, and picking the public's pocket are the order of the day — indeed, officially p…" by Studs Terkel?
Studs Terkel photo
Studs Terkel 19
American author, historian and broadcaster 1912–2008

Related quotes

“Thus much, Samothrace, has the poet proclaimed thee to the nations and the light of day; there stay, and let us keep our reverence for holy mysteries.”
Hactenus in populos vati, Samothraca, diem que missa mane sacrisque metum servemus opertis.

Source: Argonautica, Book II, Lines 439–440

Samuel Taylor Coleridge photo

“A poet ought not to pick nature's pocket: let him borrow, and so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English poet, literary critic and philosopher

22 September 1830.
Table Talk (1821–1834)
Context: A poet ought not to pick nature's pocket: let him borrow, and so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing. Examine nature accurately, but write from recollection; and trust more to your imagination than to your memory.

Frank Lloyd Wright photo

“Every great architect is — necessarily — a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age.”

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American architect (1867-1959)

The Future of Architecture (1953)

Killer Mike photo

“They would take our drugs and money, as they pick our pockets
I guess that's the privilege of policing for some profit.”

Killer Mike (1975) Rapper and occasional actor from Atlanta, Georgia

Song lyrics, R.A.P. Music (2012)

Matt Damon photo

“I mean, I did ride the Paris subway in an attempt to get pick-pocketed in order to see how exactly they did it. My buddy was videoing the whole thing. No one picked my pocket. We got bolder and bolder as we went, but it didn’t pan out for us.”

Matt Damon (1970) American actor, screenwriter, and producer

"Matt Damon Discusses Ocean's 12, (8 December 2004) http://movies.about.com/od/oceanstwelve/a/oceansmd120804.htm

Lionel Bart photo

“You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two”

Lionel Bart (1930–1999) composer

Oliver!

Theodore Roosevelt photo

“We must demand the highest order of integrity and ability in our public men”

1900s, The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses (1900), The Strenuous Life
Context: Let us, as we value our own self-respect, face the responsibilities with proper seriousness, courage, and high resolve. We must demand the highest order of integrity and ability in our public men who are to grapple with these new problems. We must hold to a rigid accountability those public servants who show unfaithfulness to the interests of the nation or inability to rise to the high level of the new demands upon our strength and our resources. Of course we must remember not to judge any public servant by any one act, and especially should we beware of attacking the men who are merely the occasions and not the causes of disaster.

Theodore Roosevelt photo

“No prosperity and no glory can save a nation that is rotten at heart. We must ever keep the core of our national being sound, and see to it that not only our citizens in private life, but, above all, our statesmen in public life, practice the old commonplace virtues which from time immemorial have lain at the root of all true national wellbeing.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

1900s, The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses (1900), National Duties
Context: We admit with all sincerity that our first duty is within our own household; that we must not merely talk, but act, in favor of cleanliness and decency and righteousness, in all political, social, and civic matters. No prosperity and no glory can save a nation that is rotten at heart. We must ever keep the core of our national being sound, and see to it that not only our citizens in private life, but, above all, our statesmen in public life, practice the old commonplace virtues which from time immemorial have lain at the root of all true national wellbeing.

Related topics