Mary McCarthy
Mary McCarthy
Mary Therese McCarthywas an American novelist, critic and political activist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth21 June 1912
CitySeattle, WA
CountryUnited States of America
scratches socialism socialist
Scratch a socialist and you find a snob.
spiritual religious hero
It really takes a hero to live any kind of spiritual life without religious belief.
laughter tears watches
All dramatic realism is somewhat sadistic; an audience is persuaded to watch something that makes it uncomfortable and from which no relief is offered - no laughter, no tears, no purgation.
guilt yoke lambs
The dictator is also the scapegoat; in assuming absolute authority, he assumes absolute guilt; and the oppressed masses, groaning under the yoke, know themselves to be innocent as lambs, while they pray hypocritically for deliverance.
tired men faces
Who are the advertising men kidding, besides the European tourist? Between the tired, sad, gentle faces of the subway riders and the grinning Holy Families of the Ad-Mass, there exists no possibility of even a wishful identification.
christian jesus war
Combativeness was, I suppose, the dominant trait in my grandmother's nature. An aggressive churchgoer, she was quite without Christian feeling; the mercy of the Lord Jesus had never entered her heart. Her piety was an act of war against Protestant ascendancy. ...The teachings of the Church did not interest her, except as they were a rebuke to others ...
hero believe next-week
As subjects, we all live in suspense, from day to day, from hour to hour; in other words, we are the hero of our own story. We cannot believe that it is finished, that we are 'finished,' even though we may say so; we expect another chapter, another installment, tomorrow or next week.
laughter self wind
Laughter is the great antidote for self-pity, maybe a specific for the malady, yet probably it does tend to dry one's feelings out a little, as if by exposing them to a vigorous wind ...
friends believe people
The desire to believe the best of people is a prerequisite for intercourse with strangers; suspicion is reserved for friends.
forgiveness forgiving enemy
it's easier to forgive your enemies than to forgive your friends.
evil want masters
If you want to be your own master ... always be surprised by evil; never anticipate it.
blue europe looks
Any sizeable Portuguese town looks like a superstitious bride's finery - something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.
equality somewhere-else agendas
Whenever in history, equality appeared on the agenda, it was exported somewhere else, like an undesirable.
education learning people
most people did not care to be taught what they did not already know; it made them feel ignorant.