What kind of people do we wish to become, and how do we know an American when we see one? Is it possible to pursue a common purpose without a common history or a standard text? — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
The figure of the enthusiast who has just discovered jogging or a new way to fix tofu can be said to stand or, more… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share
A society that presumes a norm of violence and celebrates aggression, whether in the subway, on the football field, or in the conduct of… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share
The future turns out to be something that you make instead of find. It isn't waiting for your arrival, either with an arrest warrant… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share
The genius of capitalism consists precisely in its lack of morality. Unless he is rich enough to hire his own choir, a capitalist is… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share
We might make a public moan in the newspapers about the decay of conscience, but in private conversation, no matter what crimes a man… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share
[For American consumer society], the country's reserves of ignorance constitute a natural resource as precious as the Mississippi River or the long-lost herds of… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share
A certain kind of rich man afflicted with the symptoms of moral dandyism sooner or later comes to the conclusion that it isn't enough… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share
His administration apparently means to define itself as a television program instead of a government...I don't know if it can please both its sponsors… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share
In the garden of tabloid delight, there is always a clean towel and another song. — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share
To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share
About the presence of death and dying I don't remember the society in the 1950s being so skittish as it has since become. People… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share
Nobody suffers the pain of birth or the anguish of loving a child in order for presidents to make wars, for governments to feed… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share
