A. J. Liebling Quotes

Powerful A. J. Liebling for Daily Growth

About A. J. Liebling

**Arthur Joseph Liebing**, popularly known as **A.J. Liebling** (1904-1963), was a preeminent American journalist, humorist, and literary critic of the mid-20th century. Born on October 18, 1904, in New York City to Jewish immigrants from Russia, he developed a love for words and storytelling at an early age. Liebling graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1921 before attending Columbia University, where he would later drop out. Liebling's journalistic career began with the New York Evening Graphic in the late 1920s and eventually led him to work for some of the most prominent newspapers of his time, including The New Yorker, the Chicago Daily News, and the New York Post. Known for his wit, sharp insight, and keen observation, Liebling covered a wide range of topics but was particularly drawn to war reporting, politics, food, and boxing. In 1941, during World War II, Liebling covered the European theater for Collier's Magazine, producing some of his most celebrated work, including "The Earl of Louisiana" (1942), a series of articles about General George S. Patton, and "The Road Back to France" (1944). His coverage of the Nuremberg trials in 1946 for The New Yorker earned him a Pulitzer Prize nomination. Post-war, Liebling returned to writing for The New Yorker, where he penned his celebrated work "The Junk Bond Operator" (1958) about the financier Michael Milken. Throughout his career, Liebling published several books, including "The Sweet Science: A Modern Study of Boxing" (1939), "The Biest Years of Our Lives" (1959), and "Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris" (1960). A.J. Liebling's influence extends beyond his time, as he has been recognized as one of the greatest American journalists and a master of the essay form. His distinctive voice, biting wit, and keen insights continue to inspire generations of writers and journalists today. He passed away on December 21, 1963, in New York City at the age of 59.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one."

This quote by A.J. Liebling suggests that in practice, true freedom of the press is not available to everyone but rather to those with the means to own and operate a media outlet. In other words, it implies that the power to shape public opinion and disseminate information is not equally distributed, but rather concentrated among those who can afford it. This observation highlights a potential issue in democratic societies, where the press plays a crucial role in informing citizens and promoting accountability, yet access to this powerful tool is often limited due to economic factors.

"The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war."

This quote emphasizes the importance of preparation and hard work before facing challenges or conflicts. By working diligently during peaceful times (sweating), one reduces the potential for failure or harm when confronted with adversity or competition (war). It suggests that investing time, effort, and resources in learning, training, and improving oneself can lead to better outcomes when faced with difficult situations.

"A good journalist, like a good physician, must be an inquisitive man, and a man who cares about his patients."

This quote by A.J. Liebling highlights the crucial role of curiosity and empathy in both journalism and medicine. Just as a good doctor cares for their patients and seeks to understand their needs and challenges, a good journalist strives to inform and engage with their audience, delving deeply into stories and presenting them with accuracy and compassion. In essence, both professions involve caring for others and using their skills to improve the lives of those they serve.

"In journalism, there are no second acts, only third rates."

This quote by A.J. Liebling suggests that in journalism, individuals do not get a second chance to prove themselves after a mistake or failure, as their work is constantly under scrutiny. Instead, any subsequent work they produce will be evaluated based on their past performances, often limiting the opportunities for growth and improvement. In other words, once a journalist's reputation is established, it can be difficult for them to regain lost ground or elevate their status, making consistency and quality of work paramount in this field.

"Wise men know that the way to get a swan egg is to wait near the swan."

This quote suggests that achieving valuable or rare things requires patience and strategic positioning, not hasty or forced actions. In other words, success often comes to those who are prepared, knowledgeable, and waiting in the right place at the right time, much like someone patiently waiting near a swan to find its egg.

No sane man can afford to dispense with debilitating pleasures. No ascetic can be considered reliably sane.

- A. J. Liebling

Afford, Pleasures, Sane, Ascetic

If the first requisite for writing well about food is a good appetite, the second is to put in your apprenticeship as a feeder when you have enough money to pay the check but not enough to produce indifference of the total.

- A. J. Liebling

Indifference, Pay, About, Enough Money

Chicago seems a big city instead of merely a large place.

- A. J. Liebling

City, Big, Large, Big City

The pattern of a newspaperman's life is like the plot of 'Black Beauty.' Sometimes he finds a kind master who gives him a dry stall and an occasional bran mash in the form of a Christmas bonus, sometimes he falls into the hands of a mean owner who drives him in spite of spavins and expects him to live on potato peelings.

- A. J. Liebling

Beauty, Hands, Bonus, Expects

If there is any way you can get colder than you do when you sleep in a bedding roll on the ground in a tent in southern Tunisia two hours before dawn, I don't know about it.

- A. J. Liebling

Tent, Hours, Southern, Tunisia

An Englishman teaching an American about food is like the blind leading the one-eyed.

- A. J. Liebling

Food, Blind, Like, One-Eyed

The primary requisite for writing well about food is a good appetite. Without this, it is impossible to accumulate, within the allotted span, enough experience of eating to have anything worth setting down.

- A. J. Liebling

Impossible, Within, About, Primary

Southern political personalities, like sweet corn, travel badly. They lose flavor with every hundred yards away from the patch. By the time they reach New York, they are like Golden Bantam that has been trucked up from Texas - stale and unprofitable. The consumer forgets that the corn tastes different where it grows.

- A. J. Liebling

Southern, Badly, By The Time, Consumer

If you just try long enough and hard enough, you can always manage to boot yourself in the posterior.

- A. J. Liebling

Yourself, Try, Always, Manage

To the Parisians, and especially to the children, all Americans are now 'heros du cinema.' This is particularly disconcerting to sensitive war correspondents, if any, aware, as they are, that these innocent thanks belong to those American combat troops who won the beachhead and then made the breakthrough. There are few such men in Paris.

- A. J. Liebling

Belong, All Americans, Disconcerting

A Louisiana politician can't afford to let his animosities carry him away, and still less his principles, although there is seldom difficulty in that department.

- A. J. Liebling

Politician, Away, Still, Department

It is impossible for me to estimate how many of my early impressions of the world, correct and the opposite, came to me through newspapers. Homicide, adultery, no-hit pitching, and Balkanism were concepts that, left to my own devices, I would have encountered much later in life.

- A. J. Liebling

Own, Through, Correct, Estimate

A city with one newspaper, or with a morning and an evening paper under one ownership, is like a man with one eye, and often the eye is glass.

- A. J. Liebling

City, Newspaper, Glass, Evening

Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.

- A. J. Liebling

Freedom, Politics, Own, Press

The science of booby-trapping has taken a good deal of the fun out of following hot on the enemy's heels.

- A. J. Liebling

Science, Deal, Taken, Good Deal

People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.

- A. J. Liebling

News, Confuse, Read, Newspapers

There is no concept more generally cherished by publishers than that of the Undeserving Poor.

- A. J. Liebling

More, Poor, Concept, Cherished

The function of the press in society is to inform, but its role in society is to make money.

- A. J. Liebling

Society, Role, Inform, Function

I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better.

- A. J. Liebling

Better, Anybody, Than, Faster

I take a grave view of the press. It is the weak slat under the bed of democracy.

- A. J. Liebling

View, Bed, Take, Weak

The world isn't going backward, if you can just stay young enough to remember what it was really like when you were really young.

- A. J. Liebling

Young, Like, Going, Backward

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