Life is a system of recurrent pairs, the poison and the antidote being eternally packaged together by some considerate heavenly druggist. Mary McCarthy More Quotes by Mary McCarthy More Quotes From Mary McCarthy Being abroad makes you conscious of the whole imitative side of human behavior. The ape in man. Mary McCarthy apesliteraturemen Every age has a keyhole to which its eye is pasted. Mary McCarthy eyewittypast You mustn't force sex to do the work of love or love to do the work of sex. Mary McCarthy best-loveforcesex The things of this world reveal their essential absurdity when they are put in the Venetian context. In the unreal realm of the canals, as in a Swiftian Lilliput, the real world, with its contrivances, appears as a vast folly. Mary McCarthy veniceessentialsreal The relation between life and literature - a final antimony - is one of mutual plagiarism. Mary McCarthy plagiarismfinalsliterature The famous Florentine elegance, which attracts tourists to the shops on Via Tornabuoni and Via della Vigna Nuova, is characterized by austerity of line, simplicity, economy of effect. Mary McCarthy touristssimplicitylines The American character looks always as if it had just had a rather bad haircut, which gives it, in our eyes at any rate, a greater humanity than the European, which even among its beggars has all too much a professional air. Mary McCarthy eyeaircharacter Modern neurosis began with the discoveries of Copernicus. Science made men feel small by showing him that the earth was not the center of the universe. Mary McCarthy discoverymenscience Calling someone a monster does not make him more guilty; it makes him less so by classing him with beasts and devils. Mary McCarthy devildoemonsters If you talked or laughed in church, told lies, had impure thoughts or conversations, you were bad; if you obeyed your parents or guardians, went to confession and communion regularly, said prayers for the dead, you were good. Mary McCarthy prayercharacterlying A good deal of education consists of unlearning-the breaking of bad habits as with a tennis serve. Mary McCarthy diversitytennisjustice Anti-Semitism is a horrible disease from which nobody is immune, and it has a kind of evil fascination that makes an enlightened person draw near the source of infection, supposedly in a scientific spirit, but really to sniff the vapors and dally with the possibility. Mary McCarthy racismraceevil Liberty, as it is conceived by current opinion, has nothing inherent about it; it is a sort of gift or trust bestowed on the individual by the state pending good behavior. Mary McCarthy libertyfreedomliterature In politics, it seems, retreat is honorable if dictated by military considerations and shameful if even suggested for ethical reasons. Mary McCarthy retreatpoliticsmilitary The happy ending is our national belief. Mary McCarthy happy-endingsbeliefhappiness In verity we are the poor. This humanity we would claim for ourselves is the legacy, not only of the Enlightenment, but of the thousands and thousands of European peasants and poor townspeople who came here bringing their humanity and their sufferings with them. It is the absence of a stable upper class that is responsible for much of the vulgarity of the American scene. Should we blush before the visitor for this deficiency? Mary McCarthy sufferinghumanityclass A society person who is enthusiastic about modern painting or Truman Capote is already half a traitor to his class. It is middle-class people who, quite mistakenly, imagine that a lively pursuit of the latest in reading and painting will advance their status in the world. Mary McCarthy painreadingclass What's the use of falling in love if you both remain inertly as you were? Mary McCarthy falling-in-loveusefall 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. Mary McCarthy agemindtree I really tried, or so I thought, to avoid lying, but it seemed to me that they forced it on me by the difference in their vision of things, so that I was always transposing reality for them into something they could understand. Mary McCarthy differenceslyingreality
