E.Y. (Yip) Harburg

I was relieved when the Crash came. I was released. Being in business was something I detested. When I found out that I could sell a song or a poem, I became me, I became alive. Other people didn't see it that way. They were throwing themselves out of windows.

Someone who lost money found that his life was gone. When I lost my possessions, I found my creativity. I felt I was being born for the first time. So for me the world became beautiful.

With the Crash, I realized that the greatest fantasy of all was business. The only realistic way of making a living was versifying. Living off your imagination.

Hard Times, An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel pg 20