American life Quote by Mary McCarthy

“The strongest argument for the un-materialistic character of American life is the fact that we tolerate conditions that are, from a materialistic point of view, intolerable. ... No nation with any sense of material well-being would endure the food we eat, the cramped apartments we live in, the noise, the traffic, the crowded subways and buses. American life, in large cities, at any rate, is a perpetual assault on the senses and the nerves.”

Mary McCarthy

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More by Mary McCarthy

From what I have seen, I am driven to the conclusion that religion is only good for good people.

Mary McCarthy

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In morals as in politics anarchy is not for the weak.

Mary McCarthy

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Yet friendship, I believe, is essential to intellectuals. It is probably the growth hormone the mind requires as it begins its activity of producing and exchanging ideas. You can date the evolving life of a mind, like the age of a tree, by the rings of friendship formed by the expanding central trunk. In the course of my history, not…

Mary McCarthy

Any sizeable Portuguese town looks like a superstitious bride's finery - something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.

Mary McCarthy

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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

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“She considered [her] life, which had not been a life but only a sort of greeting, a Hello There.”

Mary McCarthy

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America is indeed a revelation, though not quite the one that was planned. Given a clean slate, man, it was hoped, would write the…

Mary McCarthy

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The happy ending is our national belief.

Mary McCarthy

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

Mary McCarthy

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... in America ... children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending…

Mary McCarthy

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The only form of action open to a child is to break something or strike someone, its mother or another child; it cannot cause…

Mary McCarthy

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Combativeness was, I suppose, the dominant trait in my grandmother's nature. An aggressive churchgoer, she was quite without Christian feeling; the mercy of the…

Mary McCarthy

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More American life quotes

“As we look over the list of the early leaders of the republic, Washington, John Adams, Hamilton, and others, we discern that they were all men who insisted upon being themselves and who refused to truckle to the people. With each succeeding generation, the growing demand of the people that its elective officials shall not lead but merely register the…

James Truslow Adams

Our families and our homes are the center of American life, Everything we do is to make those homes-and the lives in them-more beautiful,…

Martha Stewart

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As Americans, we want peace - we work and sacrifice for peace. But there can be no peace if our security depends on the…

George W. Bush

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I'm Mexican-American, but I grew up with a normal American life. I don't have a low rider. I drive a Honda. I guess I don't fit into any category.

Snow Tha Product

“The line in the sand that Carter drew along Iran’s Zagros Mountains now stretches from Central Asia through the Middle East and across the width of Africa. That the ongoing enterprise may someday end—that U.S. troops will finally depart—appears so unlikely as to make the prospect unworthy of discussion. Like the war on drugs or the war on poverty, the…

Andrew J. Bacevich

Vanity Fair has but two major articles in its editorial creed: first, to believe in the progress and promise of American life, and, second,…

Frank Crowninshield

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“The historical periods I like to learn about aren’t so much costume dramas as slasher flicks. The French Revolution is a favorite because it features the beloved plot of carnage in service of democracy, but I prefer American history. And if I had to pick my pet domestic bloodbaths, nothing beats Salem or Gettysburg. I’m a sucker for Puritan New…

Sarah Vowell

One of the manifestations of depression for me is that I lose my will. And I thereby lose my ability to focus. I don't think I'll ever have the day-to-day consistency in my performance that something like This American Life has. If I'm not depressed and I'm on and I can focus and I can think through something hard and…

Rachel Maddow

“Football combines two of the worst things in American life. It is violence punctuated by committee meetings.”

George Will

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I produced a play in New York that got nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best American Play.The play is called Stalking The Bogeyman. It was a story on This American Life, and my former roommate is the artistic director of the New York Repertory Theater. He heard the NPR show, contacted them, and essentially - shortest synopsis…

Adam Richman

The final test of Afro-American studies will be the extent to which they rid the minds of whites and blacks alike of false learning, and the extent to which they promote for blacks and whites alike a completely rewarding participation in American life.

Jay Saunders Redding