--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He wants to believe that Shakespeare…" description: "\"“He wants to believe that Shakespeare wrote all those books, that Lincoln fought the Civil War to free the slaves and the United States fought World Wa..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffc/paul-beatty-6684_books_he-wants-to-believe-that-shakespeare-wro_1407275.png" --- # He wants to believe that Shakespeare wrote all those… ![“He wants to believe that Shakespeare wrote all those books, that Lincoln fought the Civil War to free the slaves and the United States fought World War II to rescue the Jews and keep the world safe for democracy, that Jesus and the double feature are coming back. But I’m no Panglossian American.” quote by Paul Beatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffc/paul-beatty-6684_books_he-wants-to-believe-that-shakespeare-wro_1407275.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffc/paul-beatty-6684_books_he-wants-to-believe-that-shakespeare-wro_1407275.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffc/paul-beatty-6684_books_he-wants-to-believe-that-shakespeare-wro_1407275.png) > ““He wants to believe that Shakespeare wrote all those books, that Lincoln fought the Civil War to free the slaves and the United States fought World War II to rescue the Jews and keep the world safe for democracy, that Jesus and the double feature are coming back. But I’m no Panglossian American.”” [Paul Beatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-beatty/) ## 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 rejects naive optimism, recognizing that history and myths are often simplified, and acknowledges the limits of American idealism. **In simple terms:** Rejects naive optimism about history and myths. Key Takeaway Question narratives, seek nuance. Themes skepticism history myths Mood cynical reflective Type critical philosophical When to use this quote - political discourse - education - media consumption - personal belief systems Key Concepts Americanism critical thinking nihilism Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance hope with critical realism? - What myths shape your worldview? A Different Perspective Overgeneralizing history can ignore complexities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Believe Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe-shakespeare-1864045/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Books Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books-lincoln-3464203/) [Civil war](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-war/) [Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lincoln/) [Lincoln Fought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lincoln-fought-4949869/) [Shakespeare Wrote](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shakespeare-wrote-1074154/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) [World war](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-war/) [World war ii](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-war-ii/) ## Related quotes > [Some time ago a publisher told me that there are four kinds of books that seldom, if ever, lose money in the United States--first,murder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/some-time-ago-a-publisher-told-me-that-there-are-four-kinds-of-books/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [We need to take a far more active role in love than 'Romeo and Juliet' would lead us to believe. Perhaps that's what Shakespeare's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-serle/we-need-to-take-a-far-more-active-role-in-love-than-romeo-and-juliet/) [Rebecca Serle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-serle/) > [I believe it was Shakespeare who said, 'All the world's a stage, and you are CRAP!'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-mochrie/i-believe-it-was-shakespeare-who-said-all-the-world-s-a-stage-and-you/) [Colin Mochrie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-mochrie/) > [I do believe, and I will always believe, that Shakespeare on film is really something that should be tried more often because it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-pacino/i-do-believe-and-i-will-always-believe-that-shakespeare-on-film-is/) [Al Pacino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-pacino/) > [“The language of Shakespeare is the first and lasting affirmation of the great changes that took place in the sixteenth century, leaving the Middle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-carter/the-language-of-shakespeare-is-the-first-and-lasting-affirmation-of/) [Ronald Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-carter/) > [“Like Princes crowned they bore them-- Like Demi-Gods they wrought, When the New World lay before them In headlong fact and thought. Fate and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudyard-kipling/like-princes-crowned-they-bore-them-like-demi-gods-they-wrought-when/) [Rudyard Kipling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudyard-kipling/) > [Shakespeare wrote great poetry and preposterous plays. Who really cares, for example, which petty tyrant rules Milan? Or who succeeds to the throne of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/shakespeare-wrote-great-poetry-and-preposterous-plays-who-really/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [To me, Mozart is our Shakespeare, the one who wrote the most dramatic, psychologically most baffling music. He combined ideas that no one else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lukas-foss/to-me-mozart-is-our-shakespeare-the-one-who-wrote-the-most-dramatic/) [Lukas Foss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lukas-foss/) > [“Is it good? 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That's where the action is.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-jarecki/why-is-the-public-so-interested-in-movies-about-the-wealthy-my-answer/) [Nicholas Jarecki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-jarecki/) > [Here was a woman about the year 1800 writing without hate, without bitterness, without fear, without protest, without preaching. That was how Shakespeare wrote,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/here-was-a-woman-about-the-year-1800-writing-without-hate-without/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [Read not Milton, for he is dry; nor Shakespeare, for he wrote of common life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-stuart-calverley/read-not-milton-for-he-is-dry-nor-shakespeare-for-he-wrote-of-common/) [Charles Stuart Calverley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-stuart-calverley/) > [Shakespeare wrote about love. I write about love. Shakespeare wrote about gang warfare, family feuds and revenge. I write about all the same things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sister-souljah/shakespeare-wrote-about-love-i-write-about-love-shakespeare-wrote/) [Sister Souljah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sister-souljah/) ## More by Paul Beatty > [There are things I don't like, like sitting at the head of the class. It makes me uncomfortable. I'll do it in a seminar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-beatty/there-are-things-i-don-t-like-like-sitting-at-the-head-of-the-class/) [Paul Beatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-beatty/) > [In The Sellout I tried to capture how we can talk and see race, how we see urbanity, and how we see our history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-beatty/in-the-sellout-i-tried-to-capture-how-we-can-talk-and-see-race-how-we/) [Paul Beatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-beatty/) > [In White Boy Shuffle, I combined my seventh-grade teacher, Mr. Takemoto, who really saved me - I don't think I've ever told anyone this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-beatty/in-white-boy-shuffle-i-combined-my-seventh-grade-teacher-mr-takemoto/) [Paul Beatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-beatty/) > [I co-taught a seminar called Small Group Processes with my professor. 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The nouns themselves are loaded with so much historical baggage it's impossible for anyone to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-beatty/there-are-many-similarities-between-germans-and-blacks-the-nouns/) [Paul Beatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-beatty/) > [Like when you have the right title for something you're writing and you get lost - you can always go back to the title…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-beatty/like-when-you-have-the-right-title-for-something-you-re-writing-and/) [Paul Beatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-beatty/) > [I had a student once come up to me and we were talking about this incident, and, of course, I never had the right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-beatty/i-had-a-student-once-come-up-to-me-and-we-were-talking-about-this/) [Paul Beatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-beatty/) > [ There are always so many things happening \[to us\] at one time. 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I hate people who hate Tom Cruise, cultural automatons who at the mention of his name…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-beatty/my-litmus-test-of-compatibility-is-tom-cruise-i-hate-people-who-hate/) [Paul Beatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-beatty/) > [“Sometimes it's the nihilism that makes life worth living.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-beatty/sometimes-it-s-the-nihilism-that-makes-life-worth-living/) [Paul Beatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-beatty/) > [I think there's nothing new going on. Except that, you're even more public than you've ever been.There's some good and some bad to that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-beatty/i-think-there-s-nothing-new-going-on-except-that-you-re-even-more/) [Paul Beatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-beatty/) > [“Would he read the paper and see that the Union he saved was now a dysfunctional plutocracy,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-beatty/would-he-read-the-paper-and-see-that-the-union-he-saved-was-now-a/) [Paul Beatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-beatty/) [Explore all 98 Paul Beatty quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-beatty/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) [Christopher K. 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