For self-realization, a rebel demands a strong authority, a worthy opponent, God to his Lucifer. — Mary McCarthy Authority Copy Share Image
Old money is fully as moronic as new money but it has inherited an appearance of cultivation. — Mary McCarthy Appearance Copy Share Image
Calling someone a monster does not make him more guilty; it makes him less so by classing him with beasts and devils. — Mary McCarthy Beast Copy Share Image
I was going to get myself recognized at any price. If I could not win fame by goodness, I was ready to… — Mary McCarthy Badness Copy Share Image
You mustn't force sex to do the work of love or love to do the work of sex. — Mary McCarthy Best love Copy Share Image
For both writer and reader, the novel is a lonely, physically inactive affair. Only the imagination races. — Mary McCarthy Affair Copy Share Image
We all live in suspense, from day to day, from hour to hour; in other words, we are the hero of our… — Mary McCarthy Day to day Copy Share Image
The relation between life and literature - a final antimony - is one of mutual plagiarism. — Mary McCarthy Books Copy Share Image
The comic element is the incorrigible element in every human being; the capacity to learn, from experience or instruction, is what is… — Mary McCarthy Capacity Copy Share Image
The return to a favorite novel is generally tied up with changes in oneself that must be counted as improvements, but have… — Mary McCarthy Book Copy Share Image
Our language, once homely and colloquial, seeks to aggrandize our meanest activities with polysyllabic terms or it retreats from frankness into a… — Mary McCarthy Activity Copy Share Image
The erotic element always present in fashion, the kiss of loving labor on the body, is now overtly expressed by language. Belts… — Mary McCarthy Belts Copy Share Image
The American character looks always as if it had just had a rather bad haircut, which gives it, in our eyes at… — Mary McCarthy Air Copy Share Image
“He was never quite certain what he thought about anything until he had tested his opinion for seaworthiness in the course of… — Mary McCarthy Polemical Copy Share Image
Feminism is ridiculous. Feminists are silly idealists who want to be on top. There is no real equality in sexual relationships -… — Mary McCarthy Feminism Copy Share Image
Morality did not keep well; it required stable conditions; it was costly; it was subject to variations, and the market for it… — Mary McCarthy Character Copy Share Image
When you have committed an action that you cannot bear to think about, that causes you to writhe in retrospect, do not… — Mary McCarthy Action Copy Share Image
Yet friendship, I believe, is essential to intellectuals. It is probably the growth hormone the mind requires as it begins its activity… — Mary McCarthy Activity Copy Share Image
Anti-Semitism is a horrible disease from which nobody is immune, and it has a kind of evil fascination that makes an enlightened… — Mary McCarthy Anti Copy Share Image
To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause… — Mary McCarthy America Copy Share Image
A society person who is enthusiastic about modern painting or Truman Capote is already half a traitor to his class. It is… — Mary McCarthy Artist Copy Share Image
I shall never send for a priest or recite an Act of Contrition in my last moments. I do not mind if… — Mary McCarthy Care Copy Share Image
... it was religion that saved me. Our ugly church and parochial school provided me with my only aesthetic outlet, in the… — Mary McCarthy Aesthetic Copy Share Image
The horror of Gandhi's murder lies not in the political motives behind it or in its consequences for Indian policy or for… — Mary McCarthy Behinds Copy Share Image
It really takes a hero to live any kind of spiritual life without religious belief. — Mary McCarthy Belief Copy Share Image
most people did not care to be taught what they did not already know; it made them feel ignorant. — Mary McCarthy Care Copy Share Image
A novelist is an elephant, but an elephant who must pretend to forget. — Mary McCarthy Elephant Copy Share Image
On the wall of our life together hung a gun waiting to be fired in the final act. — Mary McCarthy Finals Copy Share Image
In science, all facts, no matter how trivial or banal, enjoy democratic equality. — Mary McCarthy Democratic Copy Share Image
Labor is work that leaves no trace behind it when it is finished. — Mary McCarthy Behinds Copy Share Image
The present can try to bury the past, an operation that is most atrocious when it is most successful. — Mary McCarthy Operations Copy Share Image
We are a nation of 20 million bathrooms, with a humanist in every tub. — Mary McCarthy Bathroom Copy Share Image
People with bad consciences always fear the judgment of children. — Mary McCarthy Children Copy Share Image
My occupational hazard is that I can't help plagiarizing from real life. — Mary McCarthy Hazards Copy Share Image
Be truthful... and pay attention. I would also recommend the avoidance of credit cards. — Mary McCarthy Advice Copy Share Image
Making love, we are all more alike than we are when we are talking or acting. — Mary McCarthy Acting Copy Share Image
You musn't force sex to do the work of love or love to do the work of sex. — Mary McCarthy Force Copy Share Image
If you want to be your own master ... always be surprised by evil; never anticipate it. — Mary McCarthy Anticipate Copy Share Image
What I really do is take real plums and put them in an imaginary cake. — Mary McCarthy Cake Copy Share Image
Maybe any action becomes cowardly once you stop to reason about it. — Mary McCarthy Action Copy Share Image
