“He had learned how to assemble Jewish texts, Greek philosophy, and Middle-Western evangelistic anecdotes into a sermon. And he had learned that poverty was blessed, but that bankers make the best deacons.”
― Sinclair Lewis, quote from Elmer Gantry
“And though he had almost flunked in Greek, his thesis on 'Sixteen Ways of Paying a Church Debt' had won the ten-dollar prize in Practical Theology.”
― Sinclair Lewis, quote from Elmer Gantry
“Well, he'd get help from the Bible. It was all inspired, every word, no matter what scoffers like Jim said. He'd take the first text he turned to and talk on that.
He opened on: 'Now THEREFORE, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shethar-boznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which ARE beyond the river, be ye far from thence,' an injunction spirited but not at present helpful.”
― Sinclair Lewis, quote from Elmer Gantry
“And when Elmer was about to slip out to the kitchen with her to make lemonade, Benham held him by demanding, 'What do you think of John Wesley's doctrine of perfection?'
'Oh, it's absolutely sound and proven,' admitted Elmer, wondering what the devil Mr. Wesley's doctrine of perfection might be.”
― Sinclair Lewis, quote from Elmer Gantry
“The Reverend Elmer Gantry was reading an illustrated pink periodical devoted to prize fighters and chorus girls in his room at Elizabeth J. Schmutz Hall late of an afternoon when two large men walked in without knocking.
"Why, good evening, Brother Bains—Brother Naylor! This is a pleasant surprise. I was, uh— Did you ever see this horrible rag? About actoresses. An invention of the devil himself. I was thinking of denouncing it next Sunday. I hope you never read it—won't you sit down, gentlemen?—take this chair— I hope you never read it, Brother Floyd, because the footsteps of—”
― Sinclair Lewis, quote from Elmer Gantry
“lead an almost irritatingly pure life, but who had no”
― Sinclair Lewis, quote from Elmer Gantry
“It was not an esthetic room. Though Frank Shallard might have come to admire pictures, great music, civilized furniture, he had been trained to regard them as worldly, and to content himself with art which 'presented a message,' to regard 'Les Miserables' as superior because the bishop was a kind man, and 'The Scarlet Letter' as a poor book because the heroine was sinful and the author didn't mind.”
― Sinclair Lewis, quote from Elmer Gantry
“Eddie Fislinger's church was an octagonal affair, with the pulpit in one angle, an arrangement which produced a fascinating, rather dizzy effect, reminiscent of the doctrine of predestination.”
― Sinclair Lewis, quote from Elmer Gantry
“Street, and she was able to give Elmer the three hundred”
― Sinclair Lewis, quote from Elmer Gantry
“Elmer Gantry never knew who set him thirty dimes, wrapped in a tract about holiness, nor why. But he found the sentiments in the tract useful in his sermon, and the thirty dimes he spent for lovely photographs of burlesque ladies.”
― Sinclair Lewis, quote from Elmer Gantry
“Elmer Gantry was drunk. He was eloquently drunk, lovingly and pugnaciously drunk.”
― Sinclair Lewis, quote from Elmer Gantry
Sinclair Lewis
Born place: in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, The United States
Born date February 7, 1885
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“Cuz that's it -
That's the nasty, nasty secret of war -
When yer winning -
When yer winning, it's effing thrilling -”
― Patrick Ness, quote from Monsters of Men
“It was one of those dreams that invade the space between seconds, proving sleep has its own physics- where time shrinks and swells, lifetimes unspool in a blink, and cities burn to ash in a mere flutter of lashes.”
― Laini Taylor, quote from Days of Blood & Starlight
“I wanted to cry for wanting to cry.”
― C.J. Roberts, quote from Captive in the Dark
“Hannah leaned against the wall. 'Mind if I call shotgun?'
'Since you're carrying one? Feel free.”
― Rachel Caine, quote from Lord of Misrule
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security —”
― quote from The Constitution of the United States of America
Babbitt
Beauty from Pain
A Reliable Wife
The House of Sleep
Go Set a Watchman
The Twilight Saga: T...BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
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