(23 June 2003)
Unfit for Mass Consumption (blog entries), 2003
Context: The world wants oatmeal. It is not my job to give the world oatmeal. It is my job not to be a hack. It is my job to try to make the world chew, lest its lazy jaw muscles atrophy and its collective mandible withers and all its teeth fall out. It is my job, as a writer, to give the world toffee and peanut brittle and tough steak and celery. I write peanut butter sandwiches, not oatmeal. And every time some dolt whines, "I'm confused" or "I don't understand" or "This doesn't make any sense," I should smile and know that I'm doing my job. Not because it is my job to be opaque, but because it is not my job to be transparent.
Source: 2000s, Lines marking the introduction of Trump Steaks by The Sharper Image (2007)
“The world wants oatmeal. It is not my job to give the world oatmeal.”
(23 June 2003)
Unfit for Mass Consumption (blog entries), 2003
Context: The world wants oatmeal. It is not my job to give the world oatmeal. It is my job not to be a hack. It is my job to try to make the world chew, lest its lazy jaw muscles atrophy and its collective mandible withers and all its teeth fall out. It is my job, as a writer, to give the world toffee and peanut brittle and tough steak and celery. I write peanut butter sandwiches, not oatmeal. And every time some dolt whines, "I'm confused" or "I don't understand" or "This doesn't make any sense," I should smile and know that I'm doing my job. Not because it is my job to be opaque, but because it is not my job to be transparent.
The Moviegoer (1961)
As quoted in The Making of a Bestseller: From Author to Reader (1999) by Arthur T. Vanderbilt, p. 135
“I'm afraid of losing my obscurity. Genuineness only thrives in the dark. Like celery.”
Those Barren Leaves (1925)
“If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes. This is a tough business.”
Asking his fellow Senators to support a joint resolution opposing President George W. Bush's troop deployment plan, Hagel Ponders White House Run As War Criticism Raises His Profile, The Washington Post, 26 January 2007, 2007-01-29 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012502086_2.html,
2007
"UFC 197 press conference" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75xAdA3uVeY (January 2016), Ultimate Fighting Championship, Zuffa, LLC
2010s, 2016
