Mary McCarthy Quotes - Page 2

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Age Character Children Church Eyes Giving Happy Endings

Driving a car, you are in danger of killing; walking or standing, of being killed.

Mary McCarthy

Car, Driving, Killing

Mary McCarthy (2016). “The Stones of Florence”, p.13, Pickle Partners Publishing

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To be disesteemed by people you don't have much respect for is not the worst fate.

Mary McCarthy

Fate, People, Worst

New York Times, August 27, 1984.

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... it was religion that saved me. Our ugly church and parochial school provided me with my only aesthetic outlet, in the words ofthe Mass and the litanies and the old Latin hymns, in the Easter lilies around the altar, rosaries, ornamented prayer books, votive lamps, holy cards stamped in gold and decorated with flower wreaths and a saint's picture.

Mary McCarthy

Easter, Prayer, Latin

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If you want to be your own master ... always be surprised by evil; never anticipate it.

Mary McCarthy

Evil, Want, Masters

Mary McCarthy (2017). “Mary McCarthy: Novels 1963-1979”, p.441, Library of America

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Labor is work that leaves no trace behind it when it is finished.

Mary McCarthy

Incessant, Labor, Behinds

Mary McCarthy (1961). “On the contrary”, Farrar, Straus and Cudahy

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In violence, we forget who we are

Mary McCarthy

War, Domestic Violence, Who We Are

On the Contrary (1961) "Characters in Fiction "

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Congress-these, for the most part, illiterate hacks whose fancy vests are spotted with gravy, and whose speeches, hypocritical, unctuous, and slovenly, are spotted also with the gravy of political patronage.

Mary McCarthy

Political, Speech, Fancy

Mary McCarthy (1964). “The humanist in the bathtub”

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Laughter is the great antidote for self-pity, maybe a specific for the malady, yet probably it does tend to dry one's feelings out a little, as if by exposing them to a vigorous wind.

Mary McCarthy

Laughter, Self, Wind

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If you talked or laughed in church, told lies, had impure thoughts or conversations, you were bad; if you obeyed your parents or guardians, went to confession and communion regularly, said prayers for the dead, you were good.

Mary McCarthy

Prayer, Lying, Character

Mary McCarthy (1975). “The company she keeps”, Not Avail

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Being abroad makes you conscious of the whole imitative side of human behavior. The ape in man.

Mary McCarthy

Men, Literature, Apes

Mary McCarthy (2017). “Mary McCarthy: Novels 1963-1979”, p.414, Library of America

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What I really do is take real plums and put them in an imaginary cake.

Mary McCarthy

Real, Cake, Plums

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Illiteracy at the poverty level (mainly a matter of bad grammar) does not alarm me nearly as much as the illiteracy of the well-to-do.

Mary McCarthy

Alarms, Doe, Levels

Mary McCarthy (1985). “Occasional prose”, Harcourt

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Understanding is often a prelude to forgiveness, but they are not the same, and we often forgive what we cannot understand (seeing nothing else to do) and understand what we cannot pardon.

Mary McCarthy

Political, Understanding, Forgiving

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It is impossible, except for theologians, to conceive of a world-wide scandal or a universe-wide scandal; the proof of this is the way people have settled down to living with nuclear fission, radiation poisoning, hydrogen bombs, satellites, and space rockets.

Mary McCarthy

Space, Hydrogen Bomb, People

Mary McCarthy (1964). “The humanist in the bathtub”

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The desire to believe the best of people is a prerequisite for intercourse with strangers; suspicion is reserved for friends.

Mary McCarthy

Friends, Believe, People

Mary McCarthy (1981). “The hounds of summer and other stories: Mary McCarthy's short fiction”

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Liberty, as it is conceived by current opinion, has nothing inherent about it; it is a sort of gift or trust bestowed on the individual by the state pending good behavior.

Mary McCarthy

Freedom, Liberty, Literature

Mary McCarthy (1961). “On the contrary”, Farrar, Straus and Cudahy

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For both writer and reader, the novel is a lonely, physically inactive affair. Only the imagination races.

Mary McCarthy

Lonely, Race, Imagination

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I was going to get myself recognized at any price. If I could not win fame by goodness, I was ready to do it by badness.

Mary McCarthy

Winning, Fame, Goodness

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Be truthful... and pay attention. I would also recommend the avoidance of credit cards.

Mary McCarthy

Advice, Cards, Attention

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For self-realization, a rebel demands a strong authority, a worthy opponent, God to his Lucifer.

Mary McCarthy

Strong, Self, Rebel

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Others are to us like the characters in fiction, eternal and incorrigible; the surprises they give us turn out in the end to have been predictable and unexpected variations on the theme of being themselves.

Mary McCarthy

Character, Giving, Personality

Mary McCarthy (1964). “The Humanist in the Bathtub”

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What's the use of falling in love if you both remain inertly as you were?

Mary McCarthy

Falling In Love, Fall, Use

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Making love, we are all more alike than we are when we are talking or acting.

Mary McCarthy

Sex, Talking, Making Love

Mary McCarthy (1964). “The humanist in the bathtub”

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it's easier to forgive your enemies than to forgive your friends.

Mary McCarthy

Forgiveness, Forgiving, Enemy

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The Crucifixion and other historical precedents notwithstanding, many of us still believe that outstanding goodness is a kind of armor, that virtue, seen plain and bare, gives pause to criminality. But perhaps it is the other way around.

Mary McCarthy

Believe, Giving, Historical

Mary McCarthy (1961). “On the contrary”, Farrar, Straus and Cudahy

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Born: June 21, 1912
Died: October 25, 1989
Occupation: Author
Cite this Page: Citation

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