Hope Rides Again Quotes

“A hundred years ago, the Irish had been the immigrant boogeymen. The popular image of the leprechaun began life as a xenophobic political cartoon. Once, nobody thought a Catholic could be president. Then Kennedy came along. From time to time, we liked to pat ourselves on the back and think we were done with hate. Recent history had shown us it didn’t take much to awaken it, though.”
― Andrew Shaffer, Hope Rides Again

“You ever drive one of these things?” Barack asked, staring at the controls like Sarah Palin at a teleprompter.”
― Andrew Shaffer, Hope Rides Again

“The Prohibition era was interesting. Many parallels to today, if you think about it. We’re fighting some of the same fights—the growing divide between urban and rural Americans, the rising anti-immigrant fervor. The Moral Majority. We’re repeating the past.”
― Andrew Shaffer, Hope Rides Again

“There were thick steel bars on the lower-level windows of every residence. It seemed like a nightmare way to live your life, always peering out from behind bars like you were a prisoner in your own home. The houses couldn’t have been cheap, but each one was a prison. A multimillion-dollar prison.”
― Andrew Shaffer, Hope Rides Again

“This whole “going from one bar to another” made no sense to me. Didn’t they serve the same beer at every bar? What were they chasing?”
― Andrew Shaffer, Hope Rides Again

“Joe,” Barack said, “if I hear one more story about your weird 1930s all-boys prep school, I’m going to lose it. We’re going to have quiet time. Whoever can stay silent the longest gets two scoops of chocolate-chip ice cream.” “And a waffle cone?” “And a waffle cone,” he said. “We start now.” “If you think I can’t shut up for five minutes, then—” “You’re still talking.”
― Andrew Shaffer, Hope Rides Again

“Even the most expensive luxury-hotel mattress in the world was no match for one in your home. The one with your bedside table. The one with your reading light. The one with your wife.”
― Andrew Shaffer, Hope Rides Again

“The truth I could see with my own eyes was the only truth I trusted these days. “Truth” had somehow become subjective.”
― Andrew Shaffer, Hope Rides Again

“There was a nervous energy in the air. Barack’s return to his hometown—and to public life—had been slow. We’d both spent the first year out of office sitting on the sidelines, watching the news while sitting on our hands. It was like selling your house and seeing the buyer chop down every tree you’d planted.”
― Andrew Shaffer, Hope Rides Again

“Getting your hands dirty—really dirty—has a way of rubbing off on you. It’s tough to get them clean again afterward, no matter how hard you scrub. Lady Macbeth knew it. You can wash the blood off, but it’s never really gone.”
― Andrew Shaffer, Hope Rides Again

“Be the change you wish to see in the world, Barack was often misquoted as having said.”
― Andrew Shaffer, Hope Rides Again

“It was drive-it-like-you-stole-it time. I'd never stolen anything in my life, but I had a lead foot heavier than Barack's summer reading list.”
― Andrew Shaffer, Hope Rides Again

“I don't understand why you get mad about this stuff, Joe. Everybody farts.”
― Andrew Shaffer, Hope Rides Again