18 Ben Fountain Quotes for You to Enjoy

Ben Fountain

American Writer

America American Life Politics Time You

Related authors: Dale Carnegie Denis Waitley Dr. Seuss H. L. Mencken Napoleon Hill Ray Bradbury W. E. B. Du Bois William Arthur Ward

Democracy's premise rests on the notion that the collective wisdom of the majority will prove right more often than it's wrong; that given sufficient opportunity in the pursuit of happiness, your population will develop its talents, its intellect, its better judgment; that over time its capacity for discernment and self-correction will be enlarged. Ben Fountain

Happiness Wisdom Time Democracy Better Opportunity Will Collective Judgment Given More Rests Pursuit Pursuit Of Happiness Develop Wrong Over Talents Majority Discernment Prove Intellect Than Often Capacity Your Notion Premise Population Sufficient Right

Nobody ever came to America with a starry-eyed dream of working for starvation wages. Ben Fountain

Starvation Dream Nobody Wages Came America Working Ever

The national framework of social insurance - social security, unemployment and disability benefits, work programs, and workers' compensation - protected citizens from the kinds of risks that private markets couldn't or wouldn't insure. Ben Fountain

After Bush was elected in 2004 - please note that I didn't say 're-elected' - and I was walking around in my befuzzed state of confusion and low-grade depression, I set out more or systematically to read writers who'd grappled with that fundamental question of what America is, why it is the way it is. Ben Fountain

Depression Confusion State Please Way Say Systematically Out More Writers Re-Elected Read Around Question Walking America After Note Bush Elected Fundamental Why Set

The smartest thing I did in law school: asking my future wife to go out dancing with me. The smartest thing I did when practicing law: quitting. The smartest thing I've done in writing: following my own head and writing what I wanted to write, and nothing but. Ben Fountain

Future Me Writing Law School Wife Own Nothing Dancing Out Law School Following My Own Write Head Smartest Practicing Go Did Done Quitting Wanted Asking Thing

I never listen to music when I'm writing. Ben Fountain

Music Writing Never Listen

My first visit to Haiti was in May 1991, four months into the initial term of Haiti's first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. At the time, it seemed that Haiti was on the cusp of a new era. Ben Fountain

Time First President Months Visit Seemed Term New Haiti New Era Era May Cusp Initial Four

Americans care a lot about authenticity, rightly so. Every election is a quest for the genuine article. This is precisely what makes the long con of American politics such a rich and mystifying study. Ben Fountain

Politics Election Care Long Rich Every Rightly About Con Study Makes Genuine Quest Lot Article Authenticity American Precisely American Politics

Learning essential stuff is as much a discipline as going to the gym or sticking to a diet, and an excellent antidote for the modern condition of being numb and dumb. Ben Fountain

Learning Discipline Gym Excellent Stuff Sticking Condition Dumb Antidote Modern Going Essential Diet Being Much Numb

We, America, elected Trump. Putin didn't do it, nor the trolls in St. Petersburg with their zillions of busy bots. They may well have plucked certain strings in the national psyche - played us like a dimestore ukulele - but we were keen to be plucked. Ben Fountain

National Busy Strings Ukulele Plucked Putin Like Well Were Nor Trump America May Psyche Elected Us Certain Keen Played

Obama was elected on the shoulders of an incipient movement that he allowed to languish once he became president. Ben Fountain

President Once Obama Allowed He Became Movement Elected Shoulders

The American identity is mind-bogglingly various. Ben Fountain

Various Identity American American Identity

People rarely grow in humility once they reach the White House. Ben Fountain

People White White House Humility Once Rarely Reach House Grow

The collective memory of America is short. Ben Fountain

Memory Collective America Short

Upward mobility across classes peaked in the U.S. in the late 19th century. Most of the gains of the 20th century were achieved en masse; it wasn't so much a phenomenon of great numbers of people rising from one class to the next as it was standards of living rising sharply for all classes. You didn't have to be exceptional to rise. Ben Fountain

Great You Class People Living Late Classes Rise Rising Exceptional Sharply Most Masse Were Mobility Achieved Upward Upward Mobility Gains Century Much Next Across Standards Peaked Phenomenon Numbers

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