“ Men who never have had the experience of trying, in the midst of an epidemic, to remain calm and keep experimental conditions, do not realize in the security of their laboratories what one has to contend with. ”
Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith (1925). copy citation
| Author | Sinclair Lewis |
|---|---|
| Source | Arrowsmith |
| Topic | calm security |
| Date | 1925 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200131h.html |
Context
“But on a night when he stood at the rail for hours, he admitted that he was afraid of their criticism, and afraid because his experiment had so many loopholes. He hurled overboard all the polemics with which he had protected himself: "Men who never have had the experience of trying, in the midst of an epidemic, to remain calm and keep experimental conditions, do not realize in the security of their laboratories what one has to contend with."
Constant criticism was good, if only it was not spiteful, jealous, petty—
No, even then it might be good! Some men had to be what easy-going workers called "spiteful." To them the joyous spite of crushing the almost-good was more natural than creation.”
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