--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Mary McCarthy and that Mr. Intellectual…" description: "\"Mary McCarthy and that Mr. Intellectual kind of guy ... Dwight McDonald? And they were really mean about [Jerome David] Salinger, and oh they were goin..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a0/whit-stillman-16157_destroyed_mary-mccarthy-and-that-mr-intellectual-k_1756044.jpg" --- # Mary McCarthy and that Mr. Intellectual kind of guy… ![“Mary McCarthy and that Mr. Intellectual kind of guy ... Dwight McDonald? And they were really mean about [Jerome David] Salinger, and oh they were going to destroy him, and just look how thoroughly they destroyed him! No one reads Salinger anymore!” quote by Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a0/whit-stillman-16157_destroyed_mary-mccarthy-and-that-mr-intellectual-k_1756044.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a0/whit-stillman-16157_destroyed_mary-mccarthy-and-that-mr-intellectual-k_1756044.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a0/whit-stillman-16157_destroyed_mary-mccarthy-and-that-mr-intellectual-k_1756044.jpg) > “Mary McCarthy and that Mr. Intellectual kind of guy ... Dwight McDonald? And they were really mean about \[Jerome David\] Salinger, and oh they were going to destroy him, and just look how thoroughly they destroyed him! No one reads Salinger anymore!” [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Criticism can ruin an artist's reputation and legacy, often beyond repair. **In simple terms:** Harsh criticism can destroy a writer’s fame. Key Takeaway Be mindful of how you critique others. Themes criticism legacy reputation Mood cautious reflective Type analytical observational When to use this quote - publishing - literary criticism - public opinion - author reputation Key Concepts cultural impact media influence Questions to Reflect On - How does criticism shape an artist’s future? - Can negative reviews ever be constructive? A Different Perspective Criticism may also spark renewed interest or reinterpretation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Destroyed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destroyed/) [Dwight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dwight/) [Guy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guy/) [Intellectual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intellectual/) [Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind/) [Looks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/looks/) [Mary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mary/) [Mary Mccarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mary-mccarthy-1284509/) [Mccarthy Mr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mccarthy-mr-1648732/) [Mcdonalds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mcdonalds/) [Mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/) [Reads Salinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reads-salinger-1648733/) [Really mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/really-mean/) [Salinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/salinger/) [Salinger Anymore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/salinger-anymore-1648731/) ## Related quotes > [Of the modern critics, although I disagree with almost everything she says, I admire Mary McCarthy's eloquence and social observation in 'Sights and Spectacles';…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lahr/of-the-modern-critics-although-i-disagree-with-almost-everything-she/) [John Lahr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lahr/) > [I read "The Group" by Mary McCarthy. It had tons of sex in it, or so I thought at the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-hoffman/i-read-the-group-by-mary-mccarthy-it-had-tons-of-sex-in-it-or-so-i/) [Alice Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-hoffman/) > [ \[Jerome David\] Salinger was really taken to the cleaners by nasty critics in his day. I think Joan Didion was one of the people… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/jerome-david-salinger-was-really-taken-to-the-cleaners-by-nasty/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [ I think a lot of \["Cosmopolitans"\] is marked by \[Jerome David\] Salinger. Salinger wouldn't allow his works to be adapted for film after his… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/i-think-a-lot-of-cosmopolitans-is-marked-by-jerome-david-salinger/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [ My dad challenged every president from President \[Dwight\] Eisenhower and Vice President \[Richard\] Nixon to President \[J.F\] Kennedy, Vice President \[Lindon\] Johnson to President… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-sharpton/my-dad-challenged-every-president-from-president-dwight-eisenhower/) [Al Sharpton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-sharpton/) > [ When \[my dad\] was at the University of Michigan, my mom was a social-worker. As he rose, he voted for \[Adlai\] Stevenson initially. Then… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/when-my-dad-was-at-the-university-of-michigan-my-mom-was-a-social/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [ We just became very good friends \[with Dwight Eisenhower\], we played golf, we played heart exhibitions. Then his doctor said he should not play… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arnold-palmer/we-just-became-very-good-friends-with-dwight-eisenhower-we-played/) [Arnold Palmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arnold-palmer/) > [I was not able to work up much enthusiasm over the ball game, and in the midst of it I was handed a note…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-hoover/i-was-not-able-to-work-up-much-enthusiasm-over-the-ball-game-and-in/) [Herbert Hoover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-hoover/) > [ I think that President \[Dwight\] Eisenhower was... did the most marvelous job in the war, not really a military job: a public relations job,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/i-think-that-president-dwight-eisenhower-was-did-the-most-marvelous/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [ I think it \[presidency of Dwight Eisenhower\] came too late and I think that he is not on the wavelength of this dreadful time… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/i-think-it-presidency-of-dwight-eisenhower-came-too-late-and-i-think/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [I think that doing comedy and playing Dwight is a service. Not to get grandiose about it, but I have a talent for playing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainn-wilson/i-think-that-doing-comedy-and-playing-dwight-is-a-service-not-to-get/) [Rainn Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainn-wilson/) > [(Dwight Gooden) his fastball crackling , his curveball dropping as suddenly as a duck shot in the air, has begun his charge for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ira-berkow/dwight-gooden-his-fastball-crackling-his-curveball-dropping-as/) [Ira Berkow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ira-berkow/) > [The truth is that many powerful guys have fooled around while working for the people. Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Warren Harding to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-o-reilly/the-truth-is-that-many-powerful-guys-have-fooled-around-while-working/) [Bill O'Reilly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-o-reilly/) > [ I played with \[Dwight Eisenhower\] on the day after I won the Masters at his request. We became everlasting friends. I was with him… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arnold-palmer/i-played-with-dwight-eisenhower-on-the-day-after-i-won-the-masters-at/) [Arnold Palmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arnold-palmer/) > [Dwight Howard is a Hall of Fame player.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-van-gundy/dwight-howard-is-a-hall-of-fame-player/) [Jeff Van Gundy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-van-gundy/) ## More by Whit Stillman > [I think it's really good and helpful to have the people you most admire in some other discipline than what you work in. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/i-think-it-s-really-good-and-helpful-to-have-the-people-you-most/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [For me, the present is a golden era. That's the greatest golden era. Right now. I just like pining for lost times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/for-me-the-present-is-a-golden-era-that-s-the-greatest-golden-era/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [I decided the moment I graduated from college that I would never wear blue jeans again. And I have never worn blue jeans again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/i-decided-the-moment-i-graduated-from-college-that-i-would-never-wear/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [I think Austin is read more now than Charles Dickens, and Dickens was much more popular in his day. She endures because of her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/i-think-austin-is-read-more-now-than-charles-dickens-and-dickens-was/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [I find it really disturbing to be watching a lot of the medium that I'm trying to work in. I prefer to be doing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/i-find-it-really-disturbing-to-be-watching-a-lot-of-the-medium-that-i/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [ I think a lot of \["Cosmopolitans"\] is marked by \[Jerome David\] Salinger. Salinger wouldn't allow his works to be adapted for film after his… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/i-think-a-lot-of-cosmopolitans-is-marked-by-jerome-david-salinger/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [I explained to Amazon that I don't like outlining or projecting what something's going to be. I like to allow a story to arise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/i-explained-to-amazon-that-i-don-t-like-outlining-or-projecting-what/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [I would say on the other side of the equation that there were really some massive sales and massive enthusiasm for some films that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/i-would-say-on-the-other-side-of-the-equation-that-there-were-really/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [It becomes a lot better for the actors when we're 'shooting, shooting, shooting,' instead of waiting around in a trailer for something to happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/it-becomes-a-lot-better-for-the-actors-when-we-re-shooting-shooting/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [Find someone hypersocial and crazy and try not to follow them to their doom, but to make friends with their nicer friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/find-someone-hypersocial-and-crazy-and-try-not-to-follow-them-to/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [It's terrible to write what are essentially comedies for people with no sense of humor. Everyone thinks they have a sense of humor, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/it-s-terrible-to-write-what-are-essentially-comedies-for-people-with/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [I've had no money, absolutely, from my family. They paid for a good education - or schools that purported to be a good education…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/i-ve-had-no-money-absolutely-from-my-family-they-paid-for-a-good/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [For me, there's a bad year of getting started on something. You write bad stuff and it's awkward to throw it out, and you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/for-me-there-s-a-bad-year-of-getting-started-on-something-you-write/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [There's some people who are just very dynamic about social life, and it can be some pretty crazy stuff, but you end up meeting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/there-s-some-people-who-are-just-very-dynamic-about-social-life-and/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) > [“Charlie Black: Fourierism was tried in the late nineteenth century… and it failed. Wasn’t Brook Farm Fourierist? It failed. Tom Townsend: That’s debatable. Charlie…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whit-stillman/charlie-black-fourierism-was-tried-in-the-late-nineteenth-century-and/) [Whit Stillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) [Explore all 40 Whit Stillman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whit-stillman/) ## More Destroyed quotes > [To refer even in passing to unpublished or struggling authors and their problems is to put oneself at some risk, so I will say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kingsley-amis/to-refer-even-in-passing-to-unpublished-or-struggling-authors-and/) [Kingsley Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kingsley-amis/) > [Poetry fettered, fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed or flourish in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-blake/poetry-fettered-fetters-the-human-race-nations-are-destroyed-or/) [William Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-blake/) > [ Evil cannot be "treated" -- nor should it be. Evil has to \[be\] confronted and destroyed and it matters not why the evil is… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-o-reilly/evil-cannot-be-treated-nor-should-it-be-evil-has-to-be-confronted-and/) [Bill O'Reilly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-o-reilly/) > [You know, I often thought that the gangster and the artist are the same in the eyes of the masses. They're admired and hero-worshipped…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kubrick/you-know-i-often-thought-that-the-gangster-and-the-artist-are-the/) [Stanley Kubrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kubrick/) > [They're criminals, they brutalized Afghanistan, they killed our people, they destroyed our land.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hamid-karzai/they-re-criminals-they-brutalized-afghanistan-they-killed-our-people/) [Hamid Karzai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hamid-karzai/) > [To all conservative women out there: If you are so sure the embryo needed for stem cell research are precious human life that can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/to-all-conservative-women-out-there-if-you-are-so-sure-the-embryo/) [Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/) > [“My problem is that the human race seems to want to be destroyed!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jhonen-vasquez/my-problem-is-that-the-human-race-seems-to-want-to-be-destroyed/) [Jhonen Vasquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jhonen-vasquez/) > [Wasn't Saddam destroyed? Wasn't Gaddafi liquidated? Didn't Milosevic go to the Hague? All true. But Stalin survived. Kim Jong-un isn't doing too badly, either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-fisk/wasn-t-saddam-destroyed-wasn-t-gaddafi-liquidated-didn-t-milosevic-go/) [Robert Fisk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-fisk/) > [We all carry it within us: supreme strength, the fullness of wisdom, unquenchable joy. It is never thwarted, and cannot be destroyed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huston-smith/we-all-carry-it-within-us-supreme-strength-the-fullness-of-wisdom/) [Huston Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huston-smith/) > [Wars--and what is war except crime on a mass scale?--destroy rather than produce. The vandal that destroys a window causes not only the owner…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-young/wars-and-what-is-war-except-crime-on-a-mass-scale-destroy-rather-than/) [Adam Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-young/) > ['Johnny' was a coping mechanism who could take those things which could have ordinarily destroyed me, by tweaking my past and throwing it back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-vegas/johnny-was-a-coping-mechanism-who-could-take-those-things-which-could/) [Johnny Vegas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-vegas/) > [Like Samson, I am ready to pull down the white man's temple, knowing full well that I will be destroyed by the falling rubble.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/like-samson-i-am-ready-to-pull-down-the-white-man-s-temple-knowing/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [Men will never rest till they've spoiled the earth and destroyed the animals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-adams/men-will-never-rest-till-they-ve-spoiled-the-earth-and-destroyed-the/) [Richard Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-adams/) > [The triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-triangle-of-truisms-of-father-mother-and-child-cannot-be/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/if-in-the-opinion-of-the-people-the-distribution-or-modification-of/) [George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/) [Browse all 1,587 Destroyed quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destroyed/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Mary McCarthy and that Mr. Intellectual kind of guy ... Dwight McDonald? And they were really mean about [Jerome David] Salinger, and oh they were going to destroy him, and just look how thoroughly they destroyed him! 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