177 Quotes by Studs Terkel

People are ready to say, ‘Yes, we are ready for single-payer health insurance.’ We are the only industrialized country in the world that does not have national health insurance. We are the richest in wealth and the poorest in health of all the industrial nations.

When it comes to the news, the corporate view is ‘objective,’ all else is propaganda.

The issue is jobs. You can’t get away from it: jobs. Having a buck or two in your pocket and feeling like somebody.

If I had enough money, I would take busloads of people out to the fields and into the labor camps. Then they’d know how that fine salad got on their table.

The answer is to say ‘No!’ to authority when authority is wrong.

I hope that memory is valued – that we do not lose memory.

At a time when pimpery, lick-spittlery, and picking the public’s pocket are the order of the day – indeed, officially proclaimed as virtue – the poet must play the madcap to keep his balance. And ours.

If they wanted a half-inch, you have to be able to give them a half-inch. I mean, not an inch, not two inches. Those holes must line up exactly or they won’t make their iron. And when you swing, you have to swing real smooth. You can’t have your iron swinging back and forth, oscillating. If you do this, they’ll refuse to work with you, because their life is at stake.

We use the word ‘hope’ perhaps more often than any other word in the vocabulary: ‘I hope it’s a nice day.’ ‘Hopefully, you’re doing well.’ ‘So how are things going along? Pretty good. Going to be good tomorrow? Hope so.’