Macho

When I noticed that Sylvester Stallone, star of all those Rocky and Rambo films, was born at New York City on this day in 1946 I toyed with the idea of a macho theme. When I noticed that George W. Bush was born at New Haven, Connecticut on the same day I couldn't help myself.

A little less complaint and whining, and a little more dogged work and manly striving, would do us more credit than a thousand civil rights bills.
- W. E. B. DuBois

Men weren't really the enemy; they were fellow victims suffering from an outmoded masculine mystique that made them feel unnecessarily inadequate when there were no bears to kill.
- Betty Friedan

For most Northerners, Texas is the home of real men. The cowboys, the rednecks, the outspoken self-made right-wing millionaires strike us as either the best or worst examples of American manliness.... The ideal is not an illusion nor is it contemptible, no matter what damage it may have done. Many people who scorn it in conversation want to submit to it in bed. Those who believe machismo reeks of violence alone choose to forget it once stood for honor as well.
- Edmund White

We New Yorkers see more death and violence than most soldiers do, grow a thick chitin on our backs, grimace like a rat and learn to do a disappearing act. Long ago we outgrew the need to be blowhards about our masculinity; we leave that to the Alaskans and Texans, who have more time for it.
- Edward Hoagland