“If I wanted to destroy a nation, I would give it too much and I would have it on its knees, miserable, greedy and sick.”
Letter to Adlai Stevenson (5 November 1959), quoted in The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, Writer : A Biography (1984), by Jackson J. Benson, p. 876
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John Steinbeck366
American writer 1902–1968Related quotes
Mukta Barve (1979) Indian actress
There’s still so much I want to do as an actress: Mukta Barve http://www.sakaaltimes.com/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsId=5487432128260758691&SectionId=5558842172310824508&SectionName=Cinema&NewsDate=20131024&NewsTitle=There’s%20still%20so%20much%20I%20want%20to%20do%20as%20an%20actress:%20Mukta%20Barve
Phil Vischer (1966) American puppeter
Source: The Philosophical Implications of Talking Vegetables (2005), p. 10
“I would have done anything for him. Maybe that was my sickness.”
Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
“Be glad that you're greedy; the national economy would collapse if you weren't.”
Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist
The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Unclassified
“I would not kill my enemies, but I will make them get down on their knees. I will, I can, I must.”
Maria Callas (1923–1977) American-born Greek operatic soprano
Callas : The Art and the Life (1974)
“I would rather die standing up to live life on my knees.”
Ernesto Che Guevara (1928–1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary
“I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.”
Euripidés (-480–-406 BC) ancient Athenian playwright
“For mere vengeance I would do nothing. This nation is too great to look for mere revenge.”
James A. Garfield (1831–1881) American politician, 20th President of the United States (in office in 1881)
Speech in New York City (15 April 1865) on the occasion of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, as reported in John Clark Ridpath, The Life and Work of James A. Garfield (1882 memorial edition), p. 194. Several biographers include this speech, but accounts of his remarks that day vary
1860s
Context: For mere vengeance I would do nothing. This nation is too great to look for mere revenge. But for security of the future I would do every thing.