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No use to preach to the working-man courtesy and politeness when at the same time the working-man is not given working conditions under which he can always stay polite and soft-mannered. One must not expect clean speech from a man compelled to live in filth and always overtired and usually hungry.

— B. Traven The Death Ship (1926)

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More quotes by B. Traven

There's absolutely nothing that you can't learn if you go about it one step at a time.

The Cotton Pickers (1927)

Ordinary people can never fall over the walls, because they never dare climb high enough to see what is beyond the walls.

The Death Ship (1926)

If all people had a decent job to occupy their minds, and regular meals to satisfy their hunger, most crimes would not be committed.

The Death Ship (1926)

A working-man's life is a dog's life, that's what it is.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1927)

It is always more convenient to dream of what might be.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1927)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: B. Traven (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.