Mason Cooley

The hysterical find too much significance in things. The depressed find too little.

— Mason Cooley

Logic teaches rules for presentation, not thinking.

— Mason Cooley

Attaining even mediocrity is often a struggle.

— Mason Cooley

My young friend supposes his ingenuousness is merely a ruse.

— Mason Cooley

Fear of trying causes paralysis. Trying causes only trembling and sweating.

— Mason Cooley

Blonds look angelic, but can (oh, happy!) be fleshy as well.

— Mason Cooley

Every literary critic believes he will outwit history and have the last word.

— Mason Cooley

We take refuge in illness and then are trapped there.

— Mason Cooley

Electricity, water, gas, and steam course through the walls of my building, keeping it alive.

— Mason Cooley

In middle age, I practiced feeling old, but the real thing has been a rude surprise.

— Mason Cooley

Deconstruction: peering suspiciously at the text, I wait for it to make a slip and betray itself.

— Mason Cooley

Freedom is the moment between sleep and waking before selfhood and the world return.

— Mason Cooley

The Insignificance of Man is a congenial theme; my own insignificance is a sore point.

— Mason Cooley

Once I find the right maxim to apply, I feel that I have done all that can be expected of me.

— Mason Cooley

Rescue someone unwilling to look after himself, and he will cling to you like a dangerous illness.

— Mason Cooley

King Kong, Count Dracula, and the Phantom of the Opera are just looking for love, like the rest of us.

— Mason Cooley

A Museum of fetishes would give special attention to the history of underwear.

— Mason Cooley

The power of the past does not depend on our knowledge of it.

— Mason Cooley

If we think about the obvious long enough, it dissolves.

— Mason Cooley

Nonsense is socially OK, but not stupidity.

— Mason Cooley

The suburbs: signs of life, but no proofs.

— Mason Cooley

A sense of righteousness is even more dangerous than a violent temper.

— Mason Cooley

Conscience is the moralized form of self-absorption.

— Mason Cooley

A skyscraper is a boast in glass and steel.

— Mason Cooley

People are not the way they are primarily in order to annoy me.

— Mason Cooley

Pain narrows consciousness; pleasure blurs it.

— Mason Cooley

An imprudent enemy is less dangerous than an imprudent friend.

— Mason Cooley

Disappointment proves that expectations were mistaken.

— Mason Cooley

The popping of bubblegum discourages the most determined lecher.

— Mason Cooley

Nothing easier than to confuse busyness with goodness.

— Mason Cooley

Expenditure now attracts fame as conquest once did.

— Mason Cooley

Unlike art and sex, money always arouses interest.

— Mason Cooley

I feel disappointed, but I don't remember just what I expected.

— Mason Cooley

Not romance but companionship makes the happiness of daily life.

— Mason Cooley

Mathematics: silent harmonies. Music: sounding numbers.

— Mason Cooley

Most self-laceration is more noisy than painful.

— Mason Cooley

After a moment of shrinking back, we domesticate the grotesque.

— Mason Cooley

The smile of a politician is strong and friendly, but noncommittal.

— Mason Cooley

My neglected duties crowd around me in my dreams, murmuring.

— Mason Cooley

Clothes make the body both mysterious and historical.

— Mason Cooley