Wilfrid Sheed Quotes

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• The actual Irish weather report is really a recording made in 1922, which no one has had occasion to change. "Scattered showers, periods of sunshine."

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Sunshine, Weather, Made

  Wilfrid Sheed (1978). “The good word & other words”, Dutton Adult

  5 Copy quote

• The only reason I didn't kill myself after I read the reviews of my first book was because we have two rivers in New York and I couldn't decide which one to jumo into.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  New York, Book, Writing

  8 Copy quote

• If the French were really intelligent, they'd speak English.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Sarcastic, Sarcasm, Intelligent

  Wilfrid Sheed (1990). “Essays in Disguise”, Alfred A. Knopf

  6 Copy quote

• The worse we treat people in this country, the more delicately we talk about them.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Country, People, Treats

  Wilfrid Sheed (1978). “The good word & other words”, Dutton Adult

  6 Copy quote

• I myself have not met a self‐confessed liberal since the late fifties (and even then it was a tacky thing to admit, like coming from the middle class or the Middle West, those two gloomy seedbeds of talent), yet hardly a day passes that I don't read another attack on the “typical liberal” — as it might be announcing a pest of dinosaurs or a plague of unicorns.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Self, Class, Two

  "Spock Mugged" by Wilfrid Sheed, www.nytimes.com. January 7, 1973.

  6 Copy quote

• The American male doesn't mature until he has exhausted all other possibilities.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Maturity, Glowing, Males

  8 Copy quote

• Whether or not Big Brother is watching us, we certainly have to watch him, which may be even worse.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Brother, Watches, May

  "Essays in Disguise" by Wilfrid Sheed, Knopf, (p. 156), 1990.

  4 Copy quote

• It is a fallacy to think that carping is the strongest form of criticism: the important work begins after the artist's mistakes have been pointed out, and the reviewer can't put it off indefinitely with sneers, although some neophytes might be tempted to try: "When in doubt, stick out your tongue" is a safe rule that never cost one any readers. But there's nothing strong about it, and it has nothing to do with the real business of criticism, which is to do justice to the best work of one's time, so that nothing gets lost.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Strong, Real, Mistake

  "Essays in Disguise" by Wilfrid Sheed, Knopf, (pp. xvi-xvii), 1990.

  4 Copy quote

• It's the old case against symbols: if you get them, they seem obvious and artificial, and if you don't, you miss the whole point.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Missing, Cases, Obvious

  Wilfrid Sheed (1978). “The good word and other words”, Penguin (Non-Classics)

  4 Copy quote

• Even the God of Calvin never judged anyone as harshly as married couples judge each other.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Marriage, Couple, Judging

  4 Copy quote

• Saloons provide moments of genuine ecstasy - but only if your soul is at peace and the rest of your life bears contemplating. Otherwise, they are palaces of misery.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Soul, Rest Of Your Life, Palaces

  Wilfrid Sheed (1978). “The good word & other words”, Dutton Adult

  12 Copy quote

• Mankind has always made too much of its saints and heroes, and how the latter handle the fuss might be called their final test.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Hero, Saint, Finals

  "Baseball Was Very, Very Good to Him". The New York Times, October 29, 2000.

  4 Copy quote

• For now, I'm supposing that all movements are equal, which they're not, except in this respect: that none of them gives a damn about artists beyond their immediate utility. Good movements will use a writer just as ruthlessly as bad ones; since they all fancy they have better things to do than worry about one man's artistic survival.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Artist, Men, Supposing That

  Wilfrid Sheed (1978). “The good word and other words”, Penguin (Non-Classics)

  7 Copy quote

• Censors will try to censor a little bit more each year (because, like editors and other officious people, censors don't feel they are getting anywhere unless they are up and doing).

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Years, Editors, People

  Wilfrid Sheed (1978). “The good word & other words”, Dutton Adult

  4 Copy quote

• Mr Michener, as timeless as a stack of 'National Geographics,' is the ultimate Summer Writer. Just as one goes back to the cottage in Maine, so one goes back to one's Michener.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Summer, Justice, Cottages

  The New York Times, July 6, 1980.

  5 Copy quote

• Unnecessary customs live a brutally short life in America.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Short Life, America, Unnecessary

  Wilfrid Sheed (1978). “The good word & other words”, Dutton Adult

  4 Copy quote

• I rail against writers who talk about the loneliness of it all — what do they want, a crowd looking over their typewriters? Or those who talk about having to stare at a blank page — do they want someone to write on it?

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Loneliness, Writing, Typewriters

  7 Copy quote

• You noodle around with tempo and sound until you get the perfect fit for that particular song, and then, so long as you can sustain it, God is on your side and everything comes easily and even the waiters smile.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Song, Your Side, Long

  Wilfrid Sheed (1990). “Essays in Disguise”, Alfred A. Knopf

  12 Copy quote

• Books about suicide make lousy gifts.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Suicide, Book

  4 Copy quote

• Unlike most wars, which make rotten fiction in themselves - all plot and no characters, or made-up characters - Vietnam seems to be the perfect mix: the characters make the war, and the war unmakes the characters. The gods, fates, furies had a relatively small hand in it. The mess was man-made, a synthetic, by think tank out of briefing session.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  War, Character, Fate

  "The Good Word & Other Words" by Wilfrid Sheed, Penguin, (pp. 107-108), 1980.

  4 Copy quote

• The town is as full as ever of 'characters,' all created by each other.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Character, Towns

  Wilfrid Sheed (1978). “The good word & other words”, Dutton Adult

  4 Copy quote

• I picked up the writing on the very day he died. It was the only consolation I could find.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Writing, Consolation, Died

  8 Copy quote

• Every writer is a writer of the generation before.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Generations

  4 Copy quote

• As things now stand, the office is a slightly meaner battleground than the home. Male bosses seem to dominate their women underlings as they would never dominate their wives.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Home, Wife, Office

  Wilfrid Sheed (1978). “The good word and other words”, Penguin (Non-Classics)

  4 Copy quote

• As you approach the presidency, no one seems worthy of it, since it wasn't designed for a human in the first place.

  Wilfrid Sheed

  Firsts, Worthy, Approach

  Wilfrid Sheed (1978). “The good word & other words”, Dutton Adult

  4 Copy quote

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