Public Accounts

Famous quotes containing the words public and/or accounts:

    In the Corner Store, near the village center, hangs a large sign reading: ‘After 40 years of credit business, we have closed our book of Sorrow.’
    —For the State of Maine, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    The mystical nature of American consumption accounts for its joylessness. We spend a great deal of time in stores, but if we don’t seem to take much pleasure in our buying, it’s because we’re engaged in the acts of sacrifice and self-definition. Abashed in the presence of expensive merchandise, we recognize ourselves ... as supplicants admitted to a shrine.
    Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)