John D. MacDonald
John D. MacDonald
John Dann MacDonaldwas an American writer of novels and short stories, known for his thrillers...
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth24 July 1916
children thinking elephants
It's no good telling somebody they're trying too hard. It's very much like ordering a child to go stand in a corner for a half hour and never once think about elephants.
thinking done logic
All thinking is done with the glands. Logic is added later to tidy things up.
communication thinking years
The dividing line [between friends and acquaintances] is communication, I think. A friend is someone to whom you can say any jackass thing that enters your mind. With acquaintances, you are forever aware of their slightly unreal image of you, and to keep them content, you edit yourself to fit. Many marriages are between acquaintances. You can be with a person for three hours of your life and have a friend. Another will remain an acquaintance for thirty years.
glitter maintaining structure
I am wary of the whole dreary deadening structured mess that we have built into such a glittering top-heavy structure that there is nothing left to see but the glitter, and the brute routines of maintaining it.
country passion gun
Way over half the murders committed in this country are by close friends or relatives of the deceased. A gun makes a loud and satisfying noise in a moment of passion and requires no agility and very little strength. How many murders wouldn't happen, if they all had to use hammers and knives?
beautiful doors ideas
I am not suited to the role of going around selling the life-can-be-beautiful idea. It can be, indeed. But you don't buy the concept from your friendly door-to-door lecture salesman.
hurt coffee giving
...it isn't foolish or wicked to enjoy. Wickedness is hurting people on purpose. I love what you are and who you are and how you are. You give me great joy. And you make horrible coffee.
excellence world littles
To enjoy enduring success we should travel a little in advance of the world.
friendship unforgivable avoiding
Friendships like marriages are dependent on avoiding the unforgivable.
animal journey people
Old friend, there are people—young and old—that I like, and people that I do not like. The former are always in short supply. I am turned off by humorless fanaticism, whether it's revolutionary mumbo-jumbo by a young one, or loud lessons from scripture by and old one. We are all comical, touching, slapstick animals, walking on our hind legs, trying to make it a noble journey from womb to tomb, and the people who can't see it all that way bore hell out of me.
hurt hate kids
Up with life. Stamp out all small and large indignities. Leave everyone alone to make it without pressure. Down with hurting. Lower the standard of living. Do without plastics. Smash the servo-mechanisms. Stop grabbing. Snuff the breeze and hug the kids. Love all love. Hate all hate.
tears looks persons
When you see the ugliness behind the tears of another person, it makes you take a closer look at your own.
imagination world environment
We have been endowed with the capacity and the power to create desirable pictures within and to find them automatically in the outer world of our environment.
morning
In the morning I'm often anti-semantic.