I want people to talk to one another no matter what their difference of opinion might be. — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
Perhaps it is this specter that most haunts working men and women: the planned obsolescence of people that is of a piece… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
Most of us, like the assembly line worker, have jobs that are too small for our spirit. Jobs are not big enough… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
Ordinary' is a word I loathe. It has a patronizing air. I have come across ordinary people who have done extraordinary things. — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
I never drove a car. I'm hopeless that way. I press the wrong buttons on the tape recorder. But if the person… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
Nonetheless, do I have respect for people who believe in the hereafter? Of course I do. I might add, perhaps even a… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
People are hungry for stories. It's part of our very being. Storytelling is a form of history, of immortality too. It goes… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
If solace is any sort of succor to someone, that is sufficient. I believe in the faith of people, whatever faith they… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
Ordinary people are capable of doing extraordinary things, and that's what it's all about. They must count. — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
That's why I wrote this book: to show how these people can imbue us with hope. I read somewhere that when a… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
The people in Coming of Age were far less curmudgeonly than you would think. The greater percentage said that without the young… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
People are ready to say, 'Yes, we are ready for single-payer health insurance.' We are the only industrialized country in the world… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
I'm not up on the Internet, but I hear that is a democratic possibility. People can connect with each other. I think… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
With optimism, you look upon the sunny side of things. People say, 'Studs, you're an optimist.' I never said I was an… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
When I was asked: "Will shame do it?" Meaning: Will welfare people be shamed into getting respectable work? And I said that… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
Tom Paine was a great American visionary. His book, Common Sense, sold a couple of hundred thousand copies in a population of… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
Dorothy Day said - and I'm sure that Kathy Kelly would say the same thing - 'I'm working toward a world in… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
What I bring to the interview is respect. The person recognizes that you respect them because you're listening. Because you're listening, they… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
One day I visited a guy who had made a fortune as a broker. He was sitting in his office with his… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
I've always felt, in all my books, that there's a deep decency in the American people and a native intelligence - providing… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
I presumably lost $150,000 in the depression of 1937—on my one stock investment—because I did everything Lehman Brothers told me. I said,… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
We are the most powerful nation in the world, but we're not the only nation in the world. We are not the… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
Heroes are not giant statues framed against a red sky. They are people who say: This is my community, and it is… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
Unless there's a grassroots movement of some sort, with TV and the media in general in the hands of fewer and fewer… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
There are nascent stirrings in the neighborhood and in the field, articulated by non-celebrated people who bespeak the dreams of their fellows.… — Studs Terkel Copy Share Image
“It was in ’35—we had this campaign to raise a million tax dollars. In the town of Phillips, one evening, during a blizzard, I… — Studs Terkel Copy Share
I read somewhere that when a person takes part in community action, his health improves. Something happens to him or to her biologically. It's… — Studs Terkel Copy Share
I never drove a car. I'm hopeless that way. I press the wrong buttons on the tape recorder. But if the person I'm interviewing… — Studs Terkel Copy Share
To survive the day is triumph enough for the walking wounded among the great many of us. — Studs Terkel Copy Share
“I’ll never forget that Depression Easter Sunday. Our son was four years old. I bought ten or fifteen cents’ worth of eggs. You didn’t… — Studs Terkel Copy Share
All you need in life is truth and beauty and you can find both at the Public Library. — Studs Terkel Copy Share
Reading a book should not be a passive exercise, but rather a raucous conversation. — Studs Terkel Copy Share
“The total cost of the Federal Arts Project was only $23 million. Many of these paintings, sculptures and prints were given to museums, courthouses,… — Studs Terkel Copy Share
I find labels "liberal" and "conservative" of little meaning. Our language has become perverted along with the thoughts of many of us. — Studs Terkel Copy Share
“Who knows Bob’s name in this outfit—let alone his lame child’s? (“The last place I worked for, I was let go,” recalls the bank… — Studs Terkel Copy Share
The trouble with censorship is that once it starts it is hard to stop. Just about every book contains something that someone objects to. — Studs Terkel Copy Share
