Sterling North > Quotes

“Badly drawn, badly written and badly printed - a strain on young eyes and young nervous systems - the effect of these pulp-paper nightmares is that of a violent stimulant. Their crude blacks and reds spoil the child's natural sense of color; their hypodermic injection of sex and murder makes the child impatient with better, though quieter, stories. Unless we want a coming generation even more ferocious than the present one, parents and teachers throughout America must band together to break the 'comic' magazines.

But the antidote to the 'comic' magazine poison can be found in any library or good bookstore. The parent who does not acquire that antidote for his child is guilty of criminal negligence.”
― Sterling North

“We were probably as happy as anyone can be in our world.”
― Sterling North, Rascal

“We do not own the land we abuse, or the lakes and streams we pollute or the raccoons and the otters we persecute. Those who play God in destroying any form of life are tampering with a master plan too intricate for any of us to understand. All that we can do is to aid that great plan and to keep part of our planet habitable. The greatest predator on earth is man himself, and we must look inward to destroy the killer instinct which may yet atomize the human race. Our morality must be extended to every living thing upon our globe, and we must amend the Gold Rule to read: ’ Do unto other creatures as you would have them do unto you!”
― Sterling North

“We do not own the land we abuse, or the lakes and streams we pollute or the raccoons and the otters we persecute. Those who play God in destroying any form of life are tampering with a master plan too intricate for any of us to understand. All that we can do is to aid that great plan and to keep part of our planet habitable. The greatest predator on earth is man himself, and we must look inward to destroy the killer instinct which may yet atomize the human race. Our morality must be extended to every living thing upon our globe, and we must amend the Golden Rule to read: ’ Do unto other creatures as you would have them do unto you!”
― Sterling North, Raccoons Are the Brightest People

“George Washington was in love with one girl after another during his youth, but for some reason he was unsuccessful in all these early courtships. He was probably shy and awkward in the presence of Tidewater belles. He was never to become a fluent conversationalist, had not been educated in England and, comparatively speaking, was a poor young man. In fact he was not a particularly good "catch"--and the Virginia girls let him realize it.

This made him so miserable that he wrote at least two unhappy love poems in a perfect welter of bad grammar and emotional tumult. These poems make him seem far from the statuesque and wooden figure of the Stuart portraits or of the Weems' fables. In fact, they reveal a most human and even pitiable young man. . . .

[A]mong the other girls he courted, there must have been several who in later years wondered why they had been so cool and calculating in refusing the hand of the young man who was soon to become Virginia's greatest hero.”
― Sterling North, George Washington: Frontier Colonel

“Somewhere it must all be recorded, as insects are captured in amber--that day on the river: transcribed in Brûlée's water, written on the autumn air, safe at least in my memory.”
― Sterling North, Rascal: The true story of a pet Raccoon

“Mike had bet that he could go twice around the track while Thurman and his Ford made a mere three rounds! There was one shrewd catch, however. Donnybrook needed no cranking, and Thurman must wait for the starting gun before cranking his Ford, jumping into his roadster, and streaking off after the stallion and his master.”
― Sterling North, Rascal

“My mother had told me that seeds carry in their “memory” the whole complex pattern of stem and leaf and flower and fruit, and she had shown me how the stamens and pistils begin the seed-making process all over again.”
― Sterling North, Rascal

“Ernest performed a strange service for any male in that household. He helped his mother put breakfast on the table, and suggested that she sit down to eat with the rest of us.”
― Sterling North, Rascal

“Well, son,” Bert said, “you can’t get anything in this world without working for it.”
― Sterling North, Rascal