“And he walks round blocks and blocks looking for the door of the humming tinsel windowed skyscraper, round blocks and blocks and still no door. Every time he closes his eyes the dream has hold of him, every time he stops arguing audibly with himself in pompous reasonable phrases the dream has hold of him. Young man to save your sanity you've got to do one of two things… Please mister where's the door to the building? Round the block? Just round the block… one of two unalienable alternatives: go away in a dirty soft shirt or stay in a clean Arrow collar. But what's the use of spending your whole life fleeing the City of Destruction? What about your unalienable right, Thirteen Provinces? His mind unreeling phrases, he walks on doggedly. There's nowhere in particular he wants to go. If only I still had faith in words.”

— John Dos Passos , book Manhattan Transfer

Source: Manhattan Transfer (1925), pp. 365-366

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 "And he walks round blocks and blocks looking for the door of the humming tinsel windowed skyscraper, round blocks and b…" by John Dos Passos?

John Dos Passos 25

novelist, playwright, poet, journalist, painter 1896–1970

Related quotes

“Archie's been living off the fat of the land.
I'm here to give him his pension plan.
When you come to the fight don't block the door.
'Cause you'll all go home after round four.”

Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist

Before his fight with Archie Moore (1962), as quoted in "Muhammad Ali was also great for civil rights" by Mark Wiedmer, in Times Free Press (17 January 2012) http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/jan/17/muhammad-ali-also-great-for-civil-rights/?print

“The inability to open up to hope is what blocks trust, and blocked trust is the reason for blighted dreams.”

Elizabeth Gilbert (1969) American writer

“blocked. blocked. blocked. youre all blocked. none of you are free of sin”

Dril Twitter user

[ Link to tweet https://twitter.com/dril/status/473706394009759744]
Tweets by year, 2014

“He was not merely a chip of the old Block, but the old Block itself.”

Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Anglo-Irish statesman

On Pitt's First Speech (26 February 1781), from Wraxall's Memoirs, First Series, vol. i. p. 342
1780s

“Earthquakes generate elastic waves when one block of material slides against another; the break between the two blocks being called a fault.”

David Gubbins (1947) British university teacher

Explosions generate elastic waves by an impulsive change in volume in the material. Small explosive charges are used in controlled-source seismic experiments in which the waves penetrate only a few kilometres into the earth.
[Seismology and plate tectonics, 1990, http://books.google.com/books?id=tZRxPzwoChIC&pg=PA12] (p. 12)
Seismology and Plate Tectonics (1990)

“This is a touch game. There are times when you've got to play hurt when you've got to block out the pain.”

Sherry Argov (1977) American writer

Source: Why Men Marry Bitches: A Woman's Guide to Winning Her Man's Heart

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it”

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet

“Not merely a chip of the old 'block', but the old block itself.”

William Pitt the Younger (1759–1806) British politician

Nathaniel Wraxall, "Historical Memoirs of My Own Time", part 2.
Edmund Burke's reaction to Pitt's maiden speech in Parliament. The 'old block' was William Pitt the Elder.
About

“Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun.”

Mikhail Baryshnikov (1948) Soviet-American dancer, choreographer, and actor born in Letonia, Soviet Union

“I’ve realized over the years that, with rare exceptions, most writer’s block isn’t writer’s block at all: It’s necessary time that allows the unconscious mind to do its deep work. The great “Ah-Ha!””

J.M. DeMatteis (1953) comics illustrator

moments don’t usually come at the keyboard. They come when I’m lying on the floor, staring into space (or banging my head against the wall in frustration). All of a sudden the Unconscious Camera turns on, a movie starts playing in my head-and there it is: The Big Moment. Or the Whole Damn Story. And, in many ways, I had nothing whatsoever to do with it.
A Conversation With The Legendary J.M. DeMatteis! (2004)

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

John Dos Passos 25

Related quotes

Related topics