In spring when maple buds are red, Phyllis McGinley More Quotes by Phyllis McGinley More Quotes From Phyllis McGinley For little boys are rancorous Phyllis McGinley girlboyschildren Meanness inherits a set of silverware and keeps it in the bank. Economy uses it only on important occasions, for fear of loss. Thrift sets the table with it every night for pure pleasure, but counts the butter spreaders before they are put away. Phyllis McGinley importantlossnight Oh, princes thrive on caviar, the poor on whey and curds, / And politicians, I infer, must eat their windy words. / It's crusts that feed the virtuous, it's cake that comforts sinners, / But writers live on bread and praise at Literary Dinners. Phyllis McGinley caviarcakecomfort The system - the American one, at least - is a vast and noble experiment. It has been polestar and exemplar for other nations. But from kindergarten until she graduates from college the girl is treated in it exactly like her brothers. She studies the same subjects, becomes proficient at the same sports. Oh, it is a magnificent lore she learns, education for the mind beyond anything Jane Austen or Saint Theresa or even Mrs. Pankhurst ever dreamed. It is truly Utopian. But Utopia was never meant to exist on this disheveled planet. Phyllis McGinley girleducationsports It's hard / Keeping up with the avant-garde. Phyllis McGinley avant-gardehard Ah! some love Paris, / And some Purdue. / But love is an archer with a low I.Q. / A bold, bad bowman, and innocent of pity. / So I'm in love with / New York City. Phyllis McGinley archernew-yorklove-is Sin has always been an ugly word, but it has been made so in a new sense over the last half-century. It has been made not only ugly but pass?. People are no longer sinful, they are only immature or underprivileged or frightened or, more particularly, sick. Phyllis McGinley immaturesickpeople I'm a middle-bracket person with a middle-bracket spouse / And we live together gaily in a middle-bracket house. / We've a fair-to-middlin' family; we take the middle view; / So we're manna sent from heaven to internal revenue. Phyllis McGinley viewshouseheaven What in me is pure conviction is simple prejudice in you. Phyllis McGinley convictionprejudicesimple The human animal needs a freedom seldom mentioned, freedom from intrusion. He needs a little privacy as much as he wants understanding or vitamins or exercise or praise. Phyllis McGinley understandingexerciseanimal Ah, snug lie those that slumber Beneath Conviction's roof. Their floors are sturdy lumber, Their windows weatherproof. But I sleep cold forever And cold sleep all my kind, For I was born to shiver In the draft from an open mind. Phyllis McGinley foreversleeplying Not reading poetry amounts to a national pastime here. Phyllis McGinley pastimepoetryreading Pressed for rules and verities, All i recolelct are these: Feed a cold and starve a fever. Argue with no true believer. Think-too-long is never-act. Scratch a myth and find a fact. Phyllis McGinley womenlongthinking Kindness is a virtue neither modern nor urban. One almost unlearns it in a city. Towns have their own beatitude; they are not unfriendly; they offer a vast and solacing anonymity or an equally vast and solacing gregariousness. But one needs a neighbor on whom to practice compassion. Phyllis McGinley compassionpracticekindness Sons do not need you. They are always out of your reach, Walking strange waters. Phyllis McGinley watersonneeds O, merry is the Optimist, With the troops of courage leaguing. But a dour trend In any friend Is somehow less fatiguing. Phyllis McGinley troopsoptimismtrends Let others, worn with living / And living's aftermath, / Take Sleep to heal the heart's distress, / Take Love to be their comfortress, / Take Song or Food or Fancy Dress, / But I shall take a Bath. Phyllis McGinley sleepheartsong Shunning the upstart shower, / The cold and cursory scrub, / I celebrate the power / That lies within the Tub. Phyllis McGinley shunningbathslying One applauds the industry of professional philanthropy. But it has its dangers. After a while the private heart begins to harden. We fling letters into the wastebasket, are abrupt to telephoned solicitations. Charity withers in the incessant gale. Phyllis McGinley charitylettersheart History must always be taken with a grain of salt. It is, after all, not a science but an art. Phyllis McGinley takenhistoryart
