“Isn’t it enough to make a man sour on his country when he wants to serve it and won’t be allowed unless he answers a lot of fool questions about the number of cubic inches of water in the Atlantic and the quality of sand in the Sahara desert? p. 11”

— George Washington Plunkitt

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, Chapter 3, The Curse of Civil Service Reform

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 14, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Isn’t it enough to make a man sour on his country when he wants to serve it and won’t be allowed unless he answers a lo…" by George Washington Plunkitt?

George Washington Plunkitt photo

George Washington Plunkitt67

New York State Senator 1842–1924

Related quotes

“No Jew was ever fool enough to turn Christian unless he was a clever man.”

Israel Zangwill (1864–1926) British writer

Children of the Ghetto (1892), bk. 1, ch. 7.

“I know more than one young man in past years who worked for the ticket and was just overflowin’ with patriotism, but when he was knocked out by the civil service humbug he got to hate his country and became an Anarchist. p. 11”

George Washington Plunkitt (1842–1924) New York State Senator

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, Chapter 3, The Curse of Civil Service Reform

“That's a bit like asking a man crawling across the Sahara whether he would prefer Perrier or Malvern water.”

Alan Bennett (1934) English actor, author

Quoted in the Daily Telegraph, October 30, 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2004/10/30/dl3003.xml <br class="br">When asked by Sir Ian McKellen, in 1997, whether he was heterosexual or homosexual.

“No amount of study or learning will make a man a leader unless he has the natural qualities of one.”

Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell (1883–1950) senior officer of the British Army

I – The Good General.
"Generals and Generalship" (1939)

“There is a riddle about a man who is locked in a room with nothing but a bed and a calendar, and the question is: How does he survive?
The answer is: He eats dates from the calendar and drinks water from the springs of the bed.”

Kurt Vonnegut book The Sirens of Titan

Source: The Sirens of Titan (1959), Chapter 3 “United Hotcake Preferred” (p. 72)

“I read the book of Job over and over. Poor Job. He was afflicted. According to the Bible, he was a just man. But Satan said, “You put your finger on him, and injure him, and he won’t be such a just, devout man.”
So God said to Satan, “Do anything you want with him, but spare his life.” And so he was afflicted. His children deserted him — he lost everything. He was reduced to sackcloth and ashes. Even his wife said, “Curse God and die.” But he didn’t. But he did rebuke God. He said, “I’ve lived a devout life. Worshipped You. I was just to my fellow man. Accomplished all I could in Your name. Look what’s happened.”
And God answered him, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the world? Where were you when I created the galaxies and the universes? Answer as a man! Gird up your loins and answer as a man!””

Taylor Caldwell (1900–1985) Novelist

That’s the subject of my next book.
1970s-, The Captains, the Kings, and Taylor Caldwell (1978)

“When Demaratus was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want of words, he replied, "A fool cannot hold his tongue."”

Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher

Of Demaratus
Laconic Apophthegms

“He had just about enough intelligence to open his mouth when he wanted to eat, but certainly no more.”

P.G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) English author

“You are a man now, and to be un hombre, a man must not only know right from wrong, he must also know who he is and who he isn’t. Because if a man doesn’t know who he is and who he isn’t, then no matter how much he knows about right and wrong, he will always be like a fish out of water.”

Victor Villaseñor (1940) American writer

Crazy Loco Love: A Memoir (2008)

“Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, has declared the lifting of sanctions on the country as his top priority — even as he also insists that he won’t budge an inch from the Islamic Republic’s positions on key issues, including the controversial nuclear program.”

Amir Taheri (1942) Iranian journalist

"How to con the West" http://nypost.com/2013/08/12/how-to-con-the-west/, New York Post (August 13, 2013). <br class="br">New York Post

Related topics