"Probably, I wound up—if not as a jack-of-all-trades—at best as a thirdrate polymath never able to focus these curiosities into a commanding “view of life.” The most practical solution appeared to be to make a profession of observation, to become a reporter simply, a profession easily damned as that of a fence-sitter, a moral coward unwilling to take a stand, a chronic water-treader who lacks the strength to take the plunge. To these strictures, I can only reply that once every four years at least I take a stand: I vote. And immediately afterward return to my reporting habits and the continuing discovery that in life the range of irreconcilable points of view, characters, flaws, idiosyncrasies and virtues is astounding, and that in politics there is very often much to be said on both sides, and sometimes on three or four."
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Non-fiction authors from the United StatesJournalists from the United StatesImmigrants to the United StatesNon-fiction authors from EnglandPeople from Manchester
Original Language: English
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"Reflections of a Non-Positive Man". In: Living philosophies : the reflections of some eminent men and women of our time (1990), edited by Clifton Fadiman.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alistair_Cooke
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Alistair Cooke
Alistair Cooke KBE (20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a journalist and broadcaster. Born in England, he became a naturalized American citizen.
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