Stature

Famous quotes containing the word stature:

    Every American, to the last man, lays claim to a “sense” of humor and guards it as his most significant spiritual trait, yet rejects humor as a contaminating element wherever found. America is a nation of comics and comedians; nevertheless, humor has no stature and is accepted only after the death of the perpetrator.
    —E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)

    Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer’s loneliness, but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.
    Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)

    Alas! if the principles of contentment are not within us,—the height of station and worldly grandeur will as soon add a cubit to a man’s stature as to his happiness.
    Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)