Sin In The Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, And The Battle For America's Soul Quotes
"Every character I describe lived and breathed, if not necessarily thrived, on the Levee’s mean streets."
"It is not adequate to define a prostitute simply as a woman who sells her body."
"To get in a girl must have a pretty face and figure, must be in perfect health, must look well in evening clothes."
"We will permit no monkeyshines, no knockout drops, no robberies, no crimes of any description."
"She was bred in old Kentucky, take her, boy, you’re mighty lucky, when you marry a girl like Sue."
"Your youth and beauty are all you have. Preserve it. Stay respectable by all means."
"It means, briefly, that your language will have to be ladylike and that you will forgo the entreaties you had used in the past."
"There are no good girls gone wrong, just bad girls found out."
"Everyone wants to be something in their life, and I was no different."
"Give, but give interestingly and with mystery."
"What a hilarious, delicious idea. It took one uproarious weekend to develop a plan, and the rest of their careers to weave these revenge tales into legend."
"Southern families have a way of keeping things very quiet. And if anyone knew anything, they kept their mouth shut."
"All civilization has from time to time become a thin crust over a volcano of revolution."
"Laws should be like clothes. They should fit the people they are meant to serve."
"Whatever difficulties arose, we were told to see Mr. Coughlin. He was the final word."
"It always amused me to see potential Don Juans, who had deliberately visited our Club for biographical expression, becoming inarticulate except for such phrases as 'Come seven, baby needs a new pair of shoes'."
"The underworld is obliged to be on its guard all the time to elude it."
"Never have any black marks on your record. What would your future husband say if he suspected you had mistreated a man? Keep on being good girls, even if it hurts."
"When I see a reformer, I put a hand on my watch."
"We discovered that the scrupulously strict were correspondently keen to discern suggestions of sex where nobody else would think of looking for them."
"Girls have been lured from as far as Paris under promise of work in millinery shops."
"The more industrious Custom House Place madams and pimps and saloon keepers would rather move their dives than quit altogether."
"It would be a hectic day. They had errands to run, banknotes to deposit, and holiday festivities to plan."
"The cheery strains of 'I’m a Jonah Man' took over her thoughts."
"Minna listened to the pair exchange vulgar good-byes and hang up."
"Nellie tried to force an embrace. The courtesan caught the madam’s furious gaze and couldn’t look again."
"The Everleighs had always believed in second chances, having benefited from a few themselves."
"A prostitute in other houses never entertained celebrities and princes, but wrestled in the nude and was disciplined by a whipper."
"Early one morning, on the train ride home, Bell fished his little leather diary from his pocket."
"Mayor Dunne was well aware that his predecessor, fellow Democrat Carter Harrison II, had faltered during the 1905 election over allegations of bribes and graft."
"The word of God which says, 'Void of understanding they gather by troops at the harlots’ houses not knowing that the dead are there and her guests are in the depths of hell.'"
"She pressed her face against the parlor window to get a better look."
"There is not a life that this social evil does not menace."
"One night in February, right after Madam Panzy Williams was convicted of enslaving a girl named Agnes, he, Reverend Boynton, Deaconess Lucy Hall, and a detective visited the Club."
"The Shanghai is nothing like this. Oh, how I’m going to love it here."
"A girl in our establishment is not a commodity with a market-price, like a pound of butter or a leg of lamb. She is much more on the same level with people belonging to professional classes, who accept fees for services rendered."
"It is slavery, real slavery, that we are fighting… The white slave of Chicago is a slave as much as the Negro was before the civil war."
"Time will show that great good has been done."
"I deplore the Mann Act as lending itself to a dreadful pun, the revenge that the Gods of Semantics take against tight-zippered Philistines."
"I am not a reformer. I am trying to make reform unnecessary."
"It was discovered that one of the protecting influences which was keeping the arm of the law off this white slave gang was Mayor Fred A. Busse, who is a habitué of the Everleigh Club."
"The Hon. Bathhouse Coughlin and the Hon. Hinky Dink Kenna gave the social event of their lives last night—and the event was the crowning disgrace of Chicago."
"A man who visits the red-light district at night has no right to associate with decent people in daylight."
"It is a conceded fact that woman has been reared as a sex commodity, and yet she is kept in absolute ignorance of the meaning and importance of sex."
"Chicago at last has waked up to a realization of the fact that actual slavery that deals in human flesh and blood as a marketable commodity exists in terrible magnitude in the city today."
"I was the pet of Chicago…now, if they’d only bring back the good old days."
"Girls will be girls, but they should be restrained."
"Fortunate indeed, with all the comforts of life surrounding them, are the members of the Everleigh Club."
"We’re writing about Chicago after looking the town over."
"My dear Mr. Mayor, there is no excuse for the continuing of such a lawless region."
"The Greeks construed Apollo’s loss of Daphne as symbolizing that all mortals shall be denied the Heart’s Desire, ever the unattainable."
"This home of vice is located in a three-story stone mansion."
"Once things settled a bit, and he’d had a chance to consult with Chief McWeeny, he would let the sisters know the plan for their grand reopening."
"I always entertained state legislators free in the Club."
"The price for stopping an indictment on a charge of pandering was $1,000."
"You can get much farther with a smile, a kind word, and a gun than you can with a smile and a kind word."
"I suppose we all want to leave something behind."
"Have patience, my friend, for sooner or later you, too, will get sore at everybody."
"She couldn’t help fuming about the threat that was permitted to flourish next door to the Club."
"The canceled check, she added, was still in her possession."
"They are clean and good," the harlot said, loudly enough for the neighbors to hear.
"Minna tucked the letters away, waiting to see what happened next."
"The sisters told Bloom they would consider the offer and get back to him soon."
"Minna stepped up to Madam Millard, curled her fist, and swung."
"The sisters wondered how many of their former butterflies were among the Michigan Avenue invaders."
"The sun had long since made its own escape as patrol wagons scythed through the Levee streets."
"The Levee, for the first time since the Great Fire, hushed its music and froze every movement."
"Curiously enough, we find ourselves at a crossroads of morality and law."
"I am determined to fight for justice and equality, no matter the obstacles."
"Feeding their babies beer was not an act of ignorance, but a desperate measure in desperate times."
"We no longer draw a line between the good and the bad; we understand the complexities of human nature."
"They show that they have been drilled to perfection, a testament to their resilience and strength."
"It is only necessary to open one's eyes to see the truth that surrounds us."
"I've made mistakes all my life, but I've learned from each one, making me who I am today."
"Let's all go into the world with open hearts and minds, ready to make a difference."
"Entertaining most men is a skill, an art form that requires intelligence and wit."
"The party for Lame Jimmy was a celebration of life, despite all odds."
"God bless all the little ones, for they hold the future in their tiny hands."
"The revelations made at that moment changed everything, unveiling the truth that was hidden for so long."
"The Greeks construed Apollo's loss as mere myth, but we see the truth in the loss of innocence."
"How dear to my heart are the memories of yesteryear, which taught me the values I hold dear today."
"You can draw your own conclusions, but the evidence before us cannot be ignored."
"Seems to me that we've come a long way, but the journey ahead is still long and fraught with challenges."
"I am not a reformer; I am merely a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves."
"Even if I am a Virginian, my heart and my efforts are dedicated to justice for all."
"They don’t need anyone sleuthing around after me; I am my own person, strong and free."
"It is the best of times, it is the worst of times, but it is our time to make a difference."