Mason Cooley

Thoughts can be revised. Deeds cannot.

— Mason Cooley

Shaw writes as if it were always midday.

— Mason Cooley

Maxims are sharp-edged half-truths.

— Mason Cooley

The prison is the state writ small.

— Mason Cooley

Some crave grief like strong drink.

— Mason Cooley

Young men preen. Old men scheme.

— Mason Cooley

A budget takes the fun out of money.

— Mason Cooley

Music dissolves the straight and narrow.

— Mason Cooley

“After desolation, grief brings back our humanity”

— Mason Cooley

Good parties create a temporary youthfulness.

— Mason Cooley

Boredom strives to detach, but finds itself stuck.

— Mason Cooley

Always leave room for the reader to supply meanings.

— Mason Cooley

In the present age, a man with harmonious ideas is regarded as out of touch.

— Mason Cooley

Why do we never expect dull people to be rascals?

— Mason Cooley

Narcissus weeps to find that his Image does not return his love.

— Mason Cooley

Children now expect their parents to audition for approval.

— Mason Cooley

I am now old enough to make common cause with my predecessors against my successors.

— Mason Cooley

Ladies and gentlemen are supposed to be looked after by others, like children and pets.

— Mason Cooley

To learn a vocation, you also have to learn the frauds it practices and the promises it breaks.

— Mason Cooley

Courage, determination, and hard work are all very nice, but not so nice as an oil well in the back yard.

— Mason Cooley

In the great cities, winter glitters with art and feasting. But poetry, the country cousin, sees only the dearth of the fields.

— Mason Cooley

Alone, I am satisfied with myself. With others, I am beset by troubling comparisons.

— Mason Cooley

In ethics, prudence is not an important virtue, but in the world it is almost everything.

— Mason Cooley

Pessimists fear becoming the dupes of Hope. Optimists enjoy Hope's company, and consider being duped no great matter.

— Mason Cooley

Title deeds generally outlast poems.

— Mason Cooley

I trust you because I need you.

— Mason Cooley

Beauty is lyrical. Ugliness is elegiac.

— Mason Cooley

Beauty compels us; reason merely cajoles.

— Mason Cooley

The only peace is being out of earshot.

— Mason Cooley

The neuroses parody the virtues.

— Mason Cooley

The sun cares nothing for illumination.

— Mason Cooley

The gods are watching, but idly, yawning.

— Mason Cooley

Sacred texts always offend reason.

— Mason Cooley

Living too long exacts a painful price.

— Mason Cooley

Even alone we go on justifying ourselves.

— Mason Cooley

Never ask a bore a question.

— Mason Cooley

Thought enables us to see Fate coming.

— Mason Cooley

We do justice coldly, injustice hotly.

— Mason Cooley

Wit: a whim followed by a wham.

— Mason Cooley

I know God exits, but I don't know where.

— Mason Cooley