“A writer who writes straight is the architect of history.”

—  John Dos Passos

Introduction to 1932 Modern Library edition of Three Soldiers
Context: The mind of a generation is its speech. A writer makes aspects of that speech enduring by putting them in print. He whittles at the words and phrases of today and makes of them forms to set the mind of tomorrow's generation. That's history. A writer who writes straight is the architect of history.

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John Dos Passos 25
novelist, playwright, poet, journalist, painter 1896–1970

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