“For my entire life, I had oscillated between fear at my worst moments and a sense of safety and stability at my… — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“Every time the drill instructor screamed at me and I stood proudly; every time I thought I’d fall behind during a run… — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“Each time someone stole a bike from our porch (three times, by my count), or broke into her car and took the… — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“At the same time, they’ve shown me that social mobility isn’t just about money and economics, it’s about a lifestyle change. The… — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“hillbillies like me are more down about the future than many other groups—some of whom are clearly more destitute” — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“Wed don't need to live like the elites of California, New York, or Washington, D.C. We don't need to work a hundred hours a… — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“Within two generations, the transplanted hillbillies had largely caught up to the native population in terms of income and poverty level.” — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“Powerful people sometimes do things to help people like me without really understanding people like me.” — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“Research does reveal a genetic disposition to substance abuse, but those who believe their addiction is a disease show less of an inclination to… — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“the first impulse is escape, but people who lurch toward the exit rarely choose the right door.” — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“was my first indication that the policies of Mamaw’s “party of the working man”—the Democrats—weren’t all they were cracked up to be. Political scientists… — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“A young man was sitting at home when a terrible rainstorm began. Within hours, the man’s house began to flood, and someone came to… — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“As a culture, we had no heroes. Certainly not any politician--Barack Obama was then the most admired man in America (and likely still is),… — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“To this day, being able to “take advantage” of someone is the measure in my mind of having a parent. For me and Lindsay,… — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“As one book, Appalachian Odyssey, notes about the influx of hill people to Detroit: “It was not simply that the Appalachian migrants, as rural… — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
“As a 2011 Brookings Institution study found, “compared to 2000, residents of extreme-poverty neighborhoods in 2005–09 were more likely to be white, native-born, high… — J.D. Vance Copy Share Image
