81 Quotes by Louis Kronenberger

A great maxim of personal responsibility and mature achievement: “Do it yourself” is now the enthroned cliche for being occupied with nonessentials.

Today’s competitiveness, so much imposed from without, is exhausting, not exhilarating; is unending-a part of one’s social life, one’s solitude, one’s sleep, one’s sleeplessness.

The trouble with us in America isn’t that the poetry of life has turned to prose, but that it has turned to Advertising copy.

In general, American social life constitutes an evasion of talking to people. Most Americans don’t, in any vital sense, get together; they only do things together.

Ours must be the first age whose great goal, on a nonmaterial plane, is not fulfillment but adjustment; and perhaps just such a goal has served as maladjustment’s weapon.

Ours is the country where, in order to sell your product, you don’t so much point out its merits as you first work like hell to sell yourself.

Once you have money, you can quite truthfully affirm that money isn’t everything.

One of the misfortunes of our time is that in getting rid of false shame we have killed off so much real shame as well.

The Englishman wants to be recognized as a gentleman, or as some other suitable species of human being, the American wants to be considered a good guy.