--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is too much sour grapes for my…" description: "\"There is too much sour grapes for my taste in the present American attitude. The time to denounce the bankers was when we were all feeding off their go..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6af/edith-wharton-512_attitude_there-is-too-much-sour-grapes-for-my-tas_57434.jpg" --- # There is too much sour grapes for my taste in the present… ![“There is too much sour grapes for my taste in the present American attitude. The time to denounce the bankers was when we were all feeding off their gold plate; not now! At present they have not only my sympathy but my preference. They are the last representatives of our native industries.” quote by Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6af/edith-wharton-512_attitude_there-is-too-much-sour-grapes-for-my-tas_57434.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6af/edith-wharton-512_attitude_there-is-too-much-sour-grapes-for-my-tas_57434.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6af/edith-wharton-512_attitude_there-is-too-much-sour-grapes-for-my-tas_57434.jpg) > “There is too much sour grapes for my taste in the present American attitude. The time to denounce the bankers was when we were all feeding off their gold plate; not now! At present they have not only my sympathy but my preference. They are the last representatives of our native industries.” [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker criticizes contemporary American sentiment toward bankers, suggesting that earlier criticism would have been more justified, and now sees them as the remaining bastion of domestic industry. **In simple terms:** Critique of shifting public opinion on bankers. Key Takeaway Timing of criticism matters. Themes politics economics nationalism public opinion history Mood skeptical critical reflective Type political economic cultural When to use this quote - discussing financial policy - analyzing historical attitudes - debating economic nationalism Key Concepts banking American identity economic power social critique Practical Applications - historical analysis - policy recommendation Questions to Reflect On - Why does the timing of criticism affect its legitimacy? - What does the speaker imply about domestic industry? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Attitude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attitude/) [Bankers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bankers/) [Bankers and banks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bankers-and-banks/) [Banking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/banking/) [Customer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/customer/) [Gold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gold/) [Industry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/industry/) [Preference](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/preference/) [Representatives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/representatives/) [Sour grapes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sour-grapes/) [Sympathy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sympathy/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [It is impossible to exaggerate the wide, and widening, gulf between the American attitude on the Iraq war and the view from our friends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-clooney/it-is-impossible-to-exaggerate-the-wide-and-widening-gulf-between-the/) [Nick Clooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-clooney/) > [Our concern for human rights comes to the fore when there are gross violations of human decencies. 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It has built up a monopoly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salmon-p-chase/my-agency-in-promoting-the-passage-of-the-national-banking-act-was/) [Salmon P. Chase](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salmon-p-chase/) > [A banker is a person who gives you an umbrella when it's sun and who takes it away when it starts raining.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fjlobato/a-banker-is-a-person-who-gives-you-an-umbrella-when-it-s-sun-and-who/) FJLobato > [As a joke, I would love to stand in line at ATM machines, and when people put in their PIN, I yell Got it!…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hussein-nishah/as-a-joke-i-would-love-to-stand-in-line-at-atm-machines-and-when/) [Hussein Nishah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hussein-nishah/) ## More by Edith Wharton > [“Suddenly the air was full of that deep clangor of bells which periodically covers Rome with a roof of silver.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/suddenly-the-air-was-full-of-that-deep-clangor-of-bells-which/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“Untrained human nature was not frank and innocent; it was full of the twists and defences of an instinctive guile. And he felt himself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/untrained-human-nature-was-not-frank-and-innocent-it-was-full-of-the/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“High Pasture Come up--come up: in the dim vale below The autumn mist muffles the fading trees, But on this keen hill-pasture, though the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/high-pasture-come-up-come-up-in-the-dim-vale-below-the-autumn-mist/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“Two ways to be a light for all, is to be a flaming candle or the mirror that reflects it”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/two-ways-to-be-a-light-for-all-is-to-be-a-flaming-candle-or-the/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“... no treasure-house of Atreus was ever as rich as a well-stored memory.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/no-treasure-house-of-atreus-was-ever-as-rich-as-a-well-stored-memory/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“...the endless labour of rolling human stupidity up the steep hill of understanding.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/the-endless-labour-of-rolling-human-stupidity-up-the-steep-hill-of/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“he saw his marriage becoming what most of the other marriages about him were: a dull association of material and social interests held together…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/he-saw-his-marriage-becoming-what-most-of-the-other-marriages-about/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/the-real-loneliness-is-living-among-all-these-kind-people-who-only/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [With a shiver of foreboding he saw his marriage becoming what most of the other marriages about him were: a dull association of material…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/with-a-shiver-of-foreboding-he-saw-his-marriage-becoming-what-most-of/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [Life is the saddest thing there is, next to death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/life-is-the-saddest-thing-there-is-next-to-death/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [A classic is classic not because it conforms to certain structural rules, or fits certain definitions (of which its author had quite probably never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/a-classic-is-classic-not-because-it-conforms-to-certain-structural/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“But in a few years more perhaps there may be; for, deep within us as the ghost instinct lurks, I seem to see it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/but-in-a-few-years-more-perhaps-there-may-be-for-deep-within-us-as/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [Dialogue in fiction should be reserved for the culminating moments and regarded as the spray into which the great wave of narrative breaks in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/dialogue-in-fiction-should-be-reserved-for-the-culminating-moments/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“These Americans, under their forthcoming manner, their surface-gush, as some might call it, have an odd reticence about what goes on underneath.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/these-americans-under-their-forthcoming-manner-their-surface-gush-as/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“The allegation that English girls had no conversation must be true; but theirs was a SPEAKING silence. 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ASHTON](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-j-ashton/) > [It's not the method, it's the mindset.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-gilbert/it-s-not-the-method-it-s-the-mindset/) [Andy Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-gilbert/) > [The vision of the left, full of envy and resentment, takes its worst toll on those at the bottom - whether black or white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/the-vision-of-the-left-full-of-envy-and-resentment-takes-its-worst/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [Changes before your eyes, things you can do and things you can't. My attitude is always let it keep rolling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terrence-malick/changes-before-your-eyes-things-you-can-do-and-things-you-can-t-my/) [Terrence Malick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terrence-malick/) > [Vow to be valiant. Resolve to be radiant. Determine to be dynamic. Strive to be sincere. 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