Quotes from The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

“Of all the countries in the world, we Americans have been the greatest destroyers of land of any race of people barbaric or civilized," Bennett said in a speech at the start of the dust storms. What was happening, he said, was "sinister", a symptom of "our stupendous ignorance.”
― Timothy Egan, quote from The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

“Much of Texas took its prohibition seriously. Not Dalhart. It took its whiskey seriously, in part because some of the finest corn liquor in America was coming out of the High Plains.”
― Timothy Egan, quote from The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

“So cotton growers, siphoning from the Ogallala, get three billion dollars a year in taxpayer money for fiber that is shipped to China, where it is used to make cheap clothing sold back to American chain retail stores like Wal-Mart.”
― Timothy Egan, quote from The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

“Rioting over food: how could this be? Here was all this grain, food enough to feed half the world, sitting in piles at the train station, going to waste. Something was out of balance.”
― Timothy Egan, quote from The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

“At the wedding, women served a dish of cabbage that had been shredded by wooden kraut cutters, mixed with ground pork and onion, wrapped in bread dough, and baked.”
― Timothy Egan, quote from The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

“Of all the countries in the world, we Americans have been the greatest destroyers of land of any race of people barbaric or civilized,” Bennett said in a speech at the start of the dust storms. What was happening, he said, was “sinister,” a symptom of “our stupendous ignorance.”
― Timothy Egan, quote from The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

“Of all the countries in the world, we Americans have been the greatest destroyers of land of any race of people barbaric or civilized,”
― Timothy Egan, quote from The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

“The villainous sun and the starved bank did not seem related—yet.”
― Timothy Egan, quote from The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

“The name Oklahoma is a combination of two Choctaw words— okla, which means "people,”
― Timothy Egan, quote from The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

“Going to the outhouse was an ordeal, a wade through shoulder-high drifts, forced to dig to make forward progress.”
― Timothy Egan, quote from The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

“Of all the countries in the world, we Americans have been the greatest destroyers of land of any race of people barbaric or civilized," Bennett said in a speech at the start of the dust storms. What was happening, he said, was "sinister," a symptom of "our stupendous ignorance.”
― Timothy Egan, quote from The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

About the author

Popular quotes

“Ramon looked closely at the little guy as he ate. "Maybe he's Jewish. I mean, if Sammy Davis Jr. could convert to Judaism, why not a chupacabra? We should name him Harry Mendelbaum."

I held up my arms in protest. "You're all racist. Now shut up. We'll call him Taco von Precious of Svenenstein. There, everybody happy?"

"Isn't von the same thing as of?" Frank asked. "Wouldn't that be kind of redundant?"

"You're redundant," I said.”
― Lish McBride, quote from Necromancing the Stone

“In romance, there’s nothing more attractive to a man than a woman who has dignity and pride in who she is.”
― Sherry Argov, quote from Why Men Marry Bitches: A Woman's Guide to Winning Her Man's Heart

“Mr. Tall, blond and delicious?” She’s a huge fan of Gabriel’s. Maybe it’s because he kissed her hand, or because he showed her nothing but courtesy during that weekend in the castle. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because she knows I’m in love with him.”
― Magda Alexander, quote from Storm Ravaged

“The sort of decision arrived at by saints and madmen is not revealed to others. It is forged little by little, in the folds of the spirit, tangential to reason, shielded from indiscreet eyes, not seeking the approval of others—who would never grant it—until it is at last put into practice. I imagine that in the process—the conceiving of a project and its ripening into action—the saint, the visionary, or the madman isolates himself more and more, walling himself up in solitude, safe from the intrusion of others.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, quote from The Storyteller

“One seldom was able to do her a good turn without some thoughts of strangulation.”
― Alan Bennett, quote from The Lady In The Van

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

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.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.