Mason Cooley

I would be glad to worship success if I could find her.

— Mason Cooley

I am easy-going right up to the borders of my self-interest.

— Mason Cooley

The absolute has moved into the fortress of the absurd.

— Mason Cooley

Few artists can afford artistic temperament.

— Mason Cooley

Methodology gives those with no ideas something to do.

— Mason Cooley

The doctrine of the immortality of the soul has more threat than comfort.

— Mason Cooley

Literary criticism now is all pranks and polemics.

— Mason Cooley

Skepticism may undermine beliefs, but never belief.

— Mason Cooley

The philosophy of hedonism means little to lovers of pleasure. They have no inclination to read philosophy, or to write it.

— Mason Cooley

Great talkers are trying to fill the gap between themselves and others, but only widen it.

— Mason Cooley

Children use all their wiles to get their way with adults. Adults do the same with children.

— Mason Cooley

Sometimes I discover I have changed my mind because I have forgotten what I used to think.

— Mason Cooley

Our civilization is shifting from science and technology to rhetoric and litigation.

— Mason Cooley

The greater the privilege, the more hidden the arrogance. The Emperor of China need not exist.

— Mason Cooley

When love ends, we cry out against destiny. When friendship ends, we cry out against our friend.

— Mason Cooley

It is possible to interpret without observing, but not to observe without interpreting.

— Mason Cooley

'Be faithful to your roots' is the liberal version of 'Stay in your ghetto.'

— Mason Cooley

Retirement is a one-way trip to insignificance.

— Mason Cooley

Promiscuity turns sex into a sport, like arm-wrestling.

— Mason Cooley

Carnal knowledge is as forgettable as the other kinds.

— Mason Cooley

Always clamping down on excitement is not self-control but fear.

— Mason Cooley

Travelling carries me to the surface, away from the deeps of home-thoughts.

— Mason Cooley

The educated can listen impassively to almost anything.

— Mason Cooley

The ironies in the commonplace are my inspiration and delight.

— Mason Cooley

My obsessions used to be my protectors, but now they have taken me prisoner.

— Mason Cooley

I feel affluent or not according to what part of town I am in.

— Mason Cooley

Nature knows no difference between weeds and flowers.

— Mason Cooley

Too timid to talk back, I shot my adversary.

— Mason Cooley

Even the most fickle are faithful to a few bad habits.

— Mason Cooley

Inequality is a fact. Equality is a value.

— Mason Cooley

Avid readers are enchanted by meaning, which is available chiefly in books.

— Mason Cooley

Old age learns about less after a lifetime of more.

— Mason Cooley

Envy awakens at the sound of a distant laugh.

— Mason Cooley

I see what you mean, but I do not think what you think.

— Mason Cooley

Most bad luck is the misfortune of not being an exception.

— Mason Cooley

As the tenor roars his passion, I think sadly of my spreading middle, and his.

— Mason Cooley

Every parent can imagine the joys of child abuse.

— Mason Cooley

Paradox implies that stating a contradiction disposes of it.

— Mason Cooley

Acknowledge your limitations or they will tyrannize over you.

— Mason Cooley

Let's have some good, old-fashioned literature, with a virgin and a moral.

— Mason Cooley