Beneath everything else, North and West, there ran a profound, unvoiced, almost subconscious conviction that the [American] nation was going to go on growing-in size, in power, in everything a man could think of-and in that belief there was a might and a fury that would take form instantly at the moment of shock.
Bruce CattonThe enduring realization that when a great challenge comes, the most ordinary people can show that they value something more than they value their own lives. When the last of the veterans had gone, and the sorrows and bitterness which the war created had at last worn away, this memory remained.
Bruce CattonYet there is a dignity in the human spirit which can become most clearly visible in the moment of defeat and disaster.
Bruce CattonSay this much for big league baseball - it is beyond question the greatest conversation piece ever invented in America.
Bruce CattonThere is a rowdy strain in American life, living close to the surface but running very deep. Like an ape behind a mask, it can display itself suddenly with terrifying effect.
Bruce Catton