The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up Quotes

“Patriotism is being convinced your country is better because you were born in it.”
― Jacob M. Appel, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up

“Nixon’s offences had been so long in the past, so much part of a different era that he now seemed like some lovable but bigoted uncle you tolerated at Christmas and Thanksgiving.”
― Jacob M. Appel, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up

“One thing led to another. That was the only way to explain how Arnold Brinkman, who considered both professional sports and young children unjustifiable, had ended up at Yankee Stadium with a nine-year-old boy.”
― Jacob M. Appel, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up

“If history judged nations by their pet theories, no one could ever doubt that Americans were creative.”
― Jacob M. Appel, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up

“Life is about trade-offs," said the lunatic. . . . "The difference between happy people and unhappy people is that happy people accept the trade-offs and unhappy people complain about them. Personally, I prefer to be happy.”
― Jacob M. Appel, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up

“That was the heart of the problem: every choice made sense from some vantage point.”
― Jacob M. Appel, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up

“Arnold had never given much thought to whether or not he loved America—but now it seemed pretty obvious to him that he didn’t. Not in the way Nathan Hale had loved America. Or even in the way his late father, a Dutch-Jewish refugee, had loved America. In fact, he found the idea of sacrificing his life for his country somewhat abhorrent. Moreover, it wasn’t that he disliked abstract loyalties in general. He loved New York, for instance: Senegalese takeout at three a.m., and strolling through the Botanical Gardens on the first crisp day of autumn, and feeding the peacocks at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. If Manhattan were invaded—if New Jersey were to send an expeditionary force of militiamen across the Hudson River—he’d willingly take up arms to defend his city. He also loved Sandpiper Key in Florida, where they owned a time-share, and maybe Brown University, where he’d spent five years of graduate school. But the United States? No one could mistake his qualified praise for love.”
― Jacob M. Appel, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up