Chicago Quotes

“Chicago is not the most corrupt of cities. The state of New Jersey has a couple. Need we mention Nevada? Chicago, though, is the Big Daddy. Not more corrupt, just more theatrical, more colorful in its shadiness.”
― Studs Terkel, Chicago

“UNO’s grassroots power is being felt in Pilsen, too, where rehabs are springing up without the dubious touch of gentrification. The community folk are there because they’re there and that’s where they intend to stay. No shoving out in these parts. And no yuppies need apply.”
― Studs Terkel, Chicago

“In South Chicago, a bit to the southeast, Fast Eddie is finding out about UNO. That’s the United Neighborhood Organization. While the alderman was busy giving Harold a hard time, his Hispanic constituents in the Tenth Ward were busy giving Waste Management, Inc., a hard time. The multinational toxic dumper was about to dump some of the vile stuff in the neighborhood. Hold off, big boy, said Mary Ellen Montez, a twenty-six-year-old housewife. So far, she and her neighbors are doing a far better job than Horatio ever did at the bridge.”
― Studs Terkel, Chicago

“Our double-vision, double-standard, double-value, and double-cross have been patent ever since—at least, ever since the earliest of our city fathers took the Pottawattomies for all they had. Poetically, these dispossessed natives dubbed this piece of turf Chikagou. Some say it is Indian lingo for “City of the Wild Onion”; some say it really means “City of the Big Smell.” “Big” is certainly the operative word around these parts.”
― Studs Terkel, Chicago