Jack Gilbert Quotes
Question the bravery.
Say it's not courage. Call it a passion.
Gilbert, Jack. "The Abnormal Is Not Courage." Views of Jeopardy. Yale University Press, 1962.
This line summarizes a principle of political leadership which demagogues understand intuitively and some other politicians learn. To galvanize or mobilize the public, set lofty, important objectives and goals and not small matters. Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, two of our greatest Presidents, were able to do this very well. Other presidents and many politicians try this with minor issues that they think important and great, but they are often unsuccessful because only a small part of the population—the true believers—agree with the importance and greatness.
Jack Gilbert was an American poet. Gilbert was acquainted with Jack Spicer and Allen Ginsberg, both prominent figureheads of the Beat Movement, but is not considered a Beat Poet; he described himself as a "serious romantic." Over his five-decade-long career, he published five full collections of poetry.
