30 James Howard Kunstler Quotes for You to Enjoy

James Howard Kunstler

American Author

Born: Oct 19, 1948

America American Future Life People Will

Related authors: F. Scott Fitzgerald Frederick Douglass Helen Keller Henry David Thoreau Joyce Meyer Mark Twain Og Mandino Zig Ziglar

The newspaper headlines may shout about global warming, extinctions of living species, the devastation of rain forests, and other worldwide catastrophes, but Americans evince a striking complacency when it comes to their everyday environment and the growing calamity that it represents. James Howard Kunstler

Rain Living Complacency Other Everyday Worldwide Striking About Devastation Environment Calamity Headlines Global Global Warming Forests American May Represents Newspaper Warming Shout Growing Species

Everything we do these days - our lust for ever more comfort, pleasure, and distraction, our refusal to engage with the mandates of reality, our fidelity to cults of technology and limitless growth, our narcissistic national exceptionalism - all of this propels us toward the realm where souls abandon all hope. James Howard Kunstler

Hope Technology Reality National Lust Our Everything Pleasure Abandon Distraction More Toward Days Comfort Narcissistic Souls Limitless Cults Mandates Refusal Where Fidelity Us Realm Engage Ever Growth

I do all I can to maintain good health. I eat mostly plants, as Michael Pollan would say. I get a lot of exercise. I lead a purposeful daily life. I stay current with the dentist. I made the formative decision of where to live over thirty years ago when I settled in a 'main street' small town in upstate New York. James Howard Kunstler

Life Health Good Daily Good Health Decision Plants Made Live Thirty Settled Say Would Stay Eat Small Purposeful Main Lead Small Town Main Street Maintain Over New Town Mostly Exercise Years Years Ago Lot Dentist Michael Get York Current New York Where Upstate Upstate New York Formative Daily Life Street

Life in the mid-21st century is going to be about living locally. Be prepared to be good neighbors. Be prepared to find vocations that make you useful to your neighbors and to your fellow citizens. James Howard Kunstler

Life Good You Living Locally Neighbors Citizens Find Be Prepared About Fellow Fellow Citizens Make Going Century Your Useful Prepared

History is moving the furniture around in the house of mankind just about everywhere but the U.S.A. Things have changed, except here, where people come and go through the rooms of state, and everything looks shabbier by the day, and lethargy eats away at the upholstery like an acid fog, and the walls reverberate with meaningless oratory. James Howard Kunstler

Day History People Walls Fog Changed State Everything Furniture Everywhere Eats About Except Through Come Like Come And Go House Looks Around Go Oratory Just Where Acid Moving Mankind Rooms Meaningless Lethargy Away Things Here

Americans are suffering so much from being in unrewarding environments that it has made us very cynical. I think that American suburbia has become a powerful generator of anxiety and depression. James Howard Kunstler

Depression Suffering Anxiety Made Become Cynical Think Generator Powerful Environments Very American Being Suburbia Us Much

It's self-evident that we are going to have permanent problems with oil and gasoline and the prime resources that are needed to run the American suburbs. And we're just not going to be able to run them. You know, it's just unfortunate, it's tragic, but it's the truth. James Howard Kunstler

Saudi Arabia is, of course, the keystone of OPEC. Saudi Arabia has had the distinction of remaining stable through all the escalating tumult of recent decades, reliably pumping out its roughly 10 million barrels a day like Bossy the cow in America's oil import barn. James Howard Kunstler

Day Pumping Keystone Distinction Out Reliably Arabia Bossy Remaining Through OPEC Had Like Import Course Cow Escalating Decades America Stable Oil Tumult Barn Barrels Roughly Million Saudi Saudi Arabia Recent

The model of the human habitat dictated by zoning is a formless, soul-less, centerless, demoralizing mess. It bankrupts families and townships. It disables whole classes of decent, normal citizens. It ruins the air we breathe. It corrupts and deadens our spirit. James Howard Kunstler

Corrupts Habitat Our Air Ruins Citizens Classes Spirit Mess Demoralizing Normal Dictated Families Model Human Decent Breathe Whole Zoning

One of the problems with the fiasco of suburbia is that it destroyed our understanding of the distinction between the country and the town, between the urban and the rural. They're not the same thing. James Howard Kunstler

Problems Country Understanding Same Thing Our Distinction Destroyed One Of The Problems Rural Between Town Same Fiasco Suburbia Urban Thing

Ahead now, I think you'll see the big nations shrink back into their own corners of the world. I'm not saying we'll see no international trade, but it will be nothing like the conveyer belt from China to Wal-Mart that we've known the last few decades. And the prospects for conflict are very, very high. James Howard Kunstler

Saying You Conflict World Will Big Few Own Nothing Think Corners Back High See Prospects Like Known Trade Very Wal-Mart Decades Nations China International International Trade Now Shrink Last Belt

White America is tortured by black America's failure to thrive, and all that guilt and anxiety has only gotten worse as a substantial quota of white America loses its own footing in the middle class and plunges into the rough country of joblessness, hopelessness, and government dependency. James Howard Kunstler

Government Failure Class Anxiety Guilt Black Thrive Country Own White Worse Joblessness Hopelessness Tortured Only Footing Gotten Loses America Dependency Substantial Middle Middle Class Quota Rough

Human settlements are like living organisms. They must grow, and they will change. But we can decide on the nature of that growth - on the quality and the character of it - and where it ought to go. We don't have to scatter the building blocks of our civic life all over the countryside, destroying our towns and ruining farmland. James Howard Kunstler

Life Nature Character Change Quality Will Building Living Ought Settlements Our Ruining Destroying Must Civic Scatter Over Like Countryside Towns Building Blocks Go Blocks Human Where Decide Organisms Farmland Grow Growth Living Organisms

My beef with the alt-fuel people is not the renewable or alt-fuel ideas themselves. Sooner or later, there's no question we're going to have to rely on them. For me, it's an issue of scale. James Howard Kunstler

Me People Later Scale Rely No Question Sooner Sooner Or Later Ideas Renewable Issue Beef Question Going Them Themselves

I think that Obama's failure to reestablish the rule of law in money matters is the most damaging thing that he's done - and perhaps the most damaging thing that has happened in American politics in my lifetime. Because once the rule of law is absent in money matters, then anything really goes in politics. James Howard Kunstler

Politics Failure Money Law Matters Think Once Rule Rule Of Law Obama Absent Lifetime He Perhaps Most Because American Goes Done Anything Happened Then Really American Politics Thing Damaging

I think a lot of things will be self-correcting, even in America. After all, human societies are essentially self-organizing emergent systems. The catch is, how much disorder will we have to endure while this re-self-organizing process occurs. James Howard Kunstler

American cities are not scaled to the energy diet of the future. They have become too large. They're over-scaled. James Howard Kunstler

Future Become Energy Too Cities American American Cities Diet Large

Please, please, stop referring to yourselves as 'consumers.' OK? Consumers are different than citizens. Consumers do not have obligations, responsibilities and duties to their fellow human beings. James Howard Kunstler

Obligations Please OK Responsibilities Citizens Consumers Fellow Fellow Human Beings Referring Than Duties Human Stop Different Human Beings Beings

Neurologically, people have a need to feel oriented, to know where they are, not just in terms of a compass and not just in terms of geography, but in terms of their culture and history. To be informed about where they're coming from and to have some glimpse towards a hopeful future. James Howard Kunstler

The claim that Israel seeks to annihilate the Palestinians is simply a lie. Israel seeks to stop rocket attacks and tunnel invasions, and as long as Hamas is dedicated to those actions, they can expect a forceful Israeli reaction. James Howard Kunstler

Black America surely faces an existential crisis, but not the one imagined in the condescending news media - of somehow getting non-black America to be more just and generous. The truth is, we've already been through that, and there is nothing left to do. We're out of 'affirmative actions' of all kinds. James Howard Kunstler

Truth News Truth Is Black Nothing Crisis Out Black America Kinds Somehow Faces More Through Generous Surely Been Condescending Existential Left Affirmative America Getting Just News Media Actions Media Imagined

History is merciless. History doesn't care if we pound our society down a rat hole. It's up to us to make more intelligent choices about how we live! James Howard Kunstler

History Care Rat Down Live Society Our About More Pound Merciless Make How Up Intelligent Hole Us Choices

James Howard Kunstler Quotes

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