Quotes by Sarah Vowell

“This American Life”

“I make my living half as a critic, so I think that opinionated would be a good thing for a critic to be. And I think crankiness has some sort of connotation of individualism,”

“I probably am a cranky writer, but I am actually a fairly nice, normal person. Since Im a grouchy writer, of course I have friends whose books are doing way better than mine.”

“Im still definitely a journalist, so I work fast. And only with a gun to my head.”

“Its only been recently that Ive become semi-convinced that you can (earn a living as a writer).”

“In my real life Im more of a walking Woody Allen movie. Im afraid to drive and I cant swim and all that stuff so it is incredibly thrilling and fun to listen to my voice do things that, when its in my regular body, it would never get to do.”

“Once a woman spilled a drink on me in an elevator, ... She was dancing and holding a mango margarita and she dumped it on me and tried to dab me with napkins. I said, Dont touch me! and she recognized my voice from This American Life .”

“The basic reaction from students is relief that theyre made to read something that isnt totally dull, uppity or dreary, ... They think my writing is vaguely entertaining, which I guess a lot of their homework isnt. As Ira says, when people say This American Life is the coolest show on public radio is like being called the coolest Osmond. It doesnt mean that much when youre the most entertaining homework.”

“It was such a great time for music. Being in college radio in the 80s, R.E.M. just happened, Elvis Costello was going strong. The biggest, most famous Seattle band was the Young Fresh Fellows. Our town was halfway between Seattle and Minneapolis on I-90, and so we got tons of shows just by virtue of being the gas-money stop on I-90.”

“[In] Shooting Dad, ... There were years and years when he hid out by himself in the garage making rifle barrels and I holed up in my room reading Allen Ginsberg poems, and we were incapable of having a conversation that didnt end in an argument.”

We are flawed creatures, all of us. Some of us think that means we should fix our flaws. But get rid of my flaws and there would be no one left.

After Hiram Bingham built the first church on Oahu the student recalls, When it was completed some of the natives said among themselves, That house of worship built by the haoles is a place in which they will pray us all to death. It is meant to kill us.

If Im still wistful about On the Road, I look on the rest of the Kerouac oeuvre--the poems, the poems!--in horror. Read Satori in Paris lately? But if I had never read Jack Kerouacs horrendous poems, I never would have had the guts to write horrendous poems myself. I never would have signed up for Mrs. Saffords poetry class the spring of junior year, which led me to poetry readings, which introduced me to bad red wine, and after that its all just one big blurry condemned path to journalism and San Francisco.

I guess if I had to pick a spiritual figurehead to possess the deed to the entirety of Earth, Id go with Buddha, but only because he wouldnt want it.

The only thing more dangerous than an idea is a belief. And by dangerous I dont mean thought-provoking. I mean: might get people killed.

But I can no longer ready any faiths Napoleonic saber rattling without picturing smoking rubble on cable news. I guess if I had to pick a spiritual figurehead to possess the deed to the entirety of Earth, Id go with Buddha, but only because he wouldnt want it.

You know youve reached a new plateau of group mediocrity when even a Canadian is alarmed by your lack of individuality.

Thats what I like to call him, the current president. I find it difficult to say or type his name, George W. Bush. I like to call him the current president because its a hopeful phrase, implying that his administration is only temporary.

I do not think that there can ever be enough books about anything; and I say that knowing that some of them are going to be about Pilates. The more knowledge, the better seems like the a solid rule of thumb, even though I have watched enough science fiction films to accept that humanitys unchecked pursuit of learning will end with robots taking over the world.

Just the other day, I was in my neighborhood Starbucks, waiting for the post office to open. I was enjoying a chocolatey cafe mocha when it occurred to me that to drink a mocha is to gulp down the entire history of the New World. From the Spanish exportation of Aztec cacao, and the Dutch invention of the chemical process for making cocoa, on down to the capitalist empire of Hershey, PA, and the lifestyle marketing of Seattles Starbucks, the modern mocha is a bittersweet concoction of imperialism, genocide, invention, and consumerism served with whipped cream on top.