Scratch any father, you find / Someone chock-full of qualms and romantic terrors, / Believing change is a threat. Phyllis McGinley More Quotes by Phyllis McGinley More Quotes From Phyllis McGinley I am he / Who champions total liberty - / Intolerance being, ma'am, a state / No tolerant man can tolerate. Phyllis McGinley championtolerancemen Frigidity is largely nonsense. It is this generation's catchword, one only vaguely understood and constantly misused. Frigid women are few. There is a host of diffident and slow-ripening ones. Phyllis McGinley this-generationgenerationssex Sometimes I have a notion that what might improve the situation is to have women take over the occupations of government and trade and to give men their freedom. Phyllis McGinley gaza-stripstarsmen Of the small gifts of heaven, / It seems to me a more than equal share / At birth was given / To girls with curly hair. Phyllis McGinley curly-hairgirlheaven Ladies with curly hair / Have time to spare. Phyllis McGinley curly-hairspareshair There is satisfaction in seeing one's household prosper; in being both bountiful and provident. Phyllis McGinley householdseeingsatisfaction The successful truck gardener can never go out to dinner in the summer or spend a week end away, because his conscience tells him he has to be at home eating up his corn or packaging his beans for the freezer. Phyllis McGinley successfulsummerhome Relations are errors that Nature makes. / Your spouse you can put on the shelf. / But your friends, dear friends, are the quaint mistakes / You always commit yourself. Phyllis McGinley friendserrorsmistake Say what you will, making a marriage work is a woman's business. Phyllis McGinley Cocktail parties ... are usually not parties at all but mass ceremonials designed to clear up at one great stroke a wealth of obligations. Phyllis McGinley cocktail-partiescocktailsparty If childhood is still a state, it is now chiefly a state of confusion. Phyllis McGinley childhoodstatesconfusion The ability to forget a sorrow is childhood's most enchanting feature. Phyllis McGinley childhoodsorrowforget Say what you will, making marriage work is a woman's business. The institution was invented to do her homage; it was contrived for her protection. Unless she accepts it as such --as a beautiful, bountiful, but quite unequal association --the going will be hard indeed. Phyllis McGinley marriageassociationbeautiful Women like other women fine. The more feminine she is, the more comfortable a woman feels with her own sex. It is only the occasional and therefore noticeable adventuress who refuses to make friends with us. Phyllis McGinley femininewomensex People are no longer sinful, they are only immature or underprivileged or frightened or, more particularly, sick. Phyllis McGinley immaturesickpeople The saints differ from us in their exuberance, the excess of our human talents. Moderation is not their secret. It is in the wildness of their dreams, the desperate vitality of their ambitions, that they stand apart from ordinary people of good will. Phyllis McGinley ambitiondreampeople Getting along with men isn't what's truly important. The vital knowledge is how to get along with one man. Phyllis McGinley womenimportantmemorable Who could deny that privacy is a jewel? It has always been the mark of privilege, the distinguishing feature of a truly urbane culture. Out of the cave, the tribal teepee, the pueblo, the community fortress, man emerged to build himself a house of his own with a shelter in it for himself and his diversions. Every age has seen it so. The poor might have to huddle together in cities for need's sake, and the frontiersman cling to his neighbors for the sake of protection. But in each civilization, as it advanced, those who could afford it chose the luxury of a withdrawing-place. Phyllis McGinley jewelsmencivilization Meek-eyed parents hasten down the ramps To greet their offspring, terrible from camps. Phyllis McGinley rampterribleparent Sisters are always drying their hair. Locked into rooms, alone, they pose at the mirror, shoulders bare, trying this way and that their hair, or fly importunate down the stair to answer the telephone. Phyllis McGinley mirrorshairtrying
