Seventy is wormwood, Seventy is gall But its better to be seventy, Than not alive at all. Phyllis McGinley More Quotes by Phyllis McGinley More Quotes From Phyllis McGinley Of one thing I am certain, the body is not the measure of healing, peace is the measure. Phyllis McGinley bodyhealingpeace Those wearing Tolerance for a label call other views intolerable. Phyllis McGinley tolerancelabelsviews The wonderful thing about saints is that they were human. They lost their tempers, got hungry, scolded God, were egotistical or impatient in their turns, made mistakes and regretted them. Still they went on doggedly blundering toward heaven. Phyllis McGinley mistakeheavencommitment Women are the fulfilled sex. Through our children we are able to produce our own immortality, so we lack that divine restlessness which sends men charging off in pursuit of fortune or fame or an imagined Utopia. That is why we number so few geniuses among us. The wholesome oyster wears no pearl, the healthy whale no ambergris, and as long as we can keep on adding to the race, we harbor a sort of health within ourselves. Phyllis McGinley womenchildrensex In spring when maple buds are red, Phyllis McGinley autumnspringmean A hobby a day keeps the doldrums away. Phyllis McGinley hobbiesbad-mooddepression God know that a mother need fortitude and courage and tolerance and flexibility and patience and firmness and nearly every other brave aspect of the human soul. Phyllis McGinley mombravemother The trouble with gardening is that is does not remain an avocation. It becomes an obsession. Phyllis McGinley gardendoedesire The East is the hearthside of America. Like any home, therefore, it has the defects of its virtues. Because it is a long-lived-inhouse, it bursts its seams, is inconvenient, needs constant refurbishing. And some of the family resources have been spent. To attain the privacy that grown-up people find so desirable, Easterners live a harder life than people elsewhere. Today it is we and not the frontiersman who must be rugged to survive. Phyllis McGinley homeheartamerica Stir the eggnog, lift the toddy, Happy New Year everybody. Phyllis McGinley drinking-toastnew-yearyears This is the gist of what I know: Give advice and buy a foe. Phyllis McGinley self-controladvicegiving Words can sting like anything, but silence breaks the heart. Phyllis McGinley troubled-relationshipbroken-heartsilence A mother's hardest to forgive. Life is the fruit she longs to hand you Ripe on a plate. And while you live, Relentlessly she understands you. Phyllis McGinley mothers-daymomhands Scratch any father, you find / Someone chock-full of qualms and romantic terrors, / Believing change is a threat. Phyllis McGinley qualms-aboutbelievefather Compromise, if not the spice of life, is its solidity. It is what makes nations great and marriages happy Phyllis McGinley spicescompromiselife When blithe to argument I come, Though armed with facts, and merry, May Providence protect me from The fool as adversary, Whose mind to him a kingdom is Where reason lacks dominion, Who calls conviction prejudice And prejudice opinion. Phyllis McGinley atheismprejudicemind I do not know who first invented the myth of sexual equality. But it is a myth willfully fostered and nourished by certain semi-scientists and other fiction writers. And it has done more, I suspect, to unsettle marital happiness than any other false doctrine of this myth-ridden age. Phyllis McGinley doctrineagefiction The East is a montage. It is old and it is young, very green in summer, very white in winter, gregarious, withdrawn and at once both sophisticated and provincial. Phyllis McGinley whitesummerwinter Gossip isn't scandal and it's not merely malicious. It's chatter about the human race by lovers of the same. Gossip is the tool of the poet, the shop-talk of the scientist, and the consolation of the housewife, wit, tycoon and intellectual. It begins in the nursery and ends when speech is past. Phyllis McGinley racelovepast God knows that a mother needs fortitude and courage and tolerance and flexibility and patience and firmness and nearly every other brave aspect of the human soul. But because I happen to be a parent of almost fiercely maternal nature, I praise casualness. It seems to me the rarest of virtues. It is useful enough when children are small. It is useful to the point of necessity when they are adolescents. Phyllis McGinley womenmotherchildren
