I think the satirist is always basically optimistic. The satirist's complaint about society is always that it doesn't measure up to a fairly high ideal he has. I think that even the bitterest satirist, even a man like Swift, was probably rather an optimist at heart.
--
Interview, Feb 3 1964, reproduced in Talks With Authors, ed. Charles F. MaddenJohn Dos Passos
» John Dos Passos - all quotes »
A satirist is a man whose flesh creeps so at the ugly and the savage and the incongruous aspects of society that he has to express them as brutally and nakedly as possible to get relief.
John Dos Passos
If you haven't got an excremental vision you have no business setting up as a major satirist. (2:578-9)
Northrop Frye
It is said that truth comes from the mouths of fools and children: I wish every good mind which feels an inclination for satire would reflect that the finest satirist always has something of both in him.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
If I'm a cruel satirist at least I'm not a hyprocrite: I never judge what other people do. Neither a politician nor a priest, I never censor what others do. Neither a philospher nor a psychiatrist, I never bother trying to analyze or resolve my fears and neuroses.
Federico Fellini
Dos Passos, John
Dostoevsky, Fyodor
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z