Quotes from Elmer Gantry

“ELMER GANTRY was drunk. He was eloquently drunk, lovingly and pugnaciously drunk.”

Sets up the book's comic voice with stacked, rhythmic adjectives that mock its hero in the same breath.

“He never said anything important, and he always said it sonorously. He could make “Good morning” seem profound as Kant, welcoming as a brass band, and uplifting as a cathedral organ.”

Builds a series of comic similes that escalate in grandeur, showing Lewis's satirical wit at work on his protagonist.

“He was supposed to be the most popular man in college; every one believed that every one else adored him; and none of them wanted to be with him.”

A tight, balanced sentence with a sharp twist in its final clause, typical of the narrator's ironic detachment.

“His only formal education had been in country schools; and of all books save the Bible, revivalistic hymnals, a concordance handy for finding sermon-texts, and a manual of poultry-keeping, he was soundly ignorant.”

Deflates the hero with a list of his reading that ends in a dry, precise judgment.

“In ten minutes she had them all crying, all aching to dash out and bring in souls and dollars.”

Pairs spiritual and commercial aims in one clause, a compact way of exposing the revivalist trade.

“The gospel crew could never consider their converts as human beings, like waiters or manicurists or brakemen, but they had in them such a professional interest as surgeons take in patients, critics in an author, fishermen in trout.”

Extends a comparison through three parallel professions, letting the satire of conversion-as-business land through accumulation.

“Voice, sureness, presence, training, power, he had them all. Never had he so well liked his rôle; never had he acted so well; never had he known such sincerity of histrionic instinct.”

Uses repetition and a telling word, histrionic, to expose the performance beneath the preacher's sincerity.

“But he did begin to write advertisements for his weekly services—the inception of that salesmanship of salvation which was to make him known and respected in every advertising club and forward-looking church in the country.”

A long, periodic sentence whose closing irony turns a religious practice into commercial satire.

“It touched him to see the people kneeling at any hour. He had never known a church to which the plain people came for prayer. Despite its dusky magnificence, they seemed to find in the church their home.”

A plainer, more sympathetic register that shows Lewis can also write with tenderness toward his characters.

“Well, of course, being a preacher, I’m not a big husky athalete like you boys, so all I can stand is just a ginger ale.”

Captures Elmer's bluster and self-regard through his own colloquial speech, with a hint of comic cadence.