Mary McCarthy Quotes
Most popular Mary McCarthy Quotes
![In violence, we forget who we are. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/34/41734A-in-violence-we-forget-who-we-are-mary-mccarthy.png)
In violence, we forget who we are.
![Every age has a keyhole to which its eye is pasted. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/98/25598A-every-age-has-a-keyhole-to-which-its-eye-is-mary-mccarthy.png)
Every age has a keyhole to which its eye is pasted.
![Bureaucracy, the rule of no one, has become the modern form of despotism. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/06/27506A-bureaucracy-the-rule-of-no-one-has-become-modern-form-mary-mccarthy.png)
Bureaucracy, the rule of no one, has become the modern form of despotism.
![You mustn't force sex to do the work of love or love to do the work of sex. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/01/39701A-you-mustnt-force-sex-to-do-work-love-or-love-mary-mccarthy.png)
You mustn't force sex to do the work of love or love to do the work of sex.
![You must not force sex to do the work of love or love to do the work of sex. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/94/24194A-you-must-not-force-sex-to-do-work-love-or-mary-mccarthy.png)
You must not force sex to do the work of love or love to do the work of sex.
![Laughter is the great antidote for self-pity, maybe a specific for the malady. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/76/34376A-laughter-is-the-great-antidote-for-self-pity-maybe-specific-mary-mccarthy.png)
Laughter is the great antidote for self-pity, maybe a specific for the malady.
![In science, all facts, no matter how trivial or banal, enjoy democratic equality. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/74/30674A-in-science-all-facts-no-matter-how-trivial-or-banal-mary-mccarthy.png)
In science, all facts, no matter how trivial or banal, enjoy democratic equality.
![Love of truth, ordinary common truth recognizable to everyone, is the ruling passion of the novel. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/10/36610A-love-of-truth-ordinary-common-truth-recognizable-everyone-is-ruling-mary-mccarthy.png)
Love of truth, ordinary common truth recognizable to everyone, is the ruling passion of the novel.
![A good deal of education consists in un-learning—the breaking of bad habits as with a tennis serve. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/04/30004A-a-good-deal-of-education-consists-un-learning-breaking-bad-mary-mccarthy.png)
A good deal of education consists in un-learning—the breaking of bad habits as with a tennis serve.
![For both writer and reader, the novel is a lonely, physically inactive affair. Only the imagination races. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/12/36612A-for-both-writer-and-reader-the-novel-is-lonely-physically-mary-mccarthy.png)
For both writer and reader, the novel is a lonely, physically inactive affair. Only the imagination races.
![The immense popularity of American movies abroad demonstrates that Europe is the unfinished negative of which America is the proof. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/40/25940A-the-immense-popularity-of-american-movies-abroad-demonstrates-that-europe-mary-mccarthy.png)
The immense popularity of American movies abroad demonstrates that Europe is the unfinished negative of which America is the proof.
![If someone tells you he is going to make a 'realistic decision', you immediately understand that he has resolved to do something bad. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/12/19812A-if-someone-tells-you-he-is-going-make-realistic-decision-mary-mccarthy.png)
If someone tells you he is going to make a 'realistic decision', you immediately understand that he has resolved to do something bad.
![Is it really so difficult to tell a good action from a bad one? I think one usually knows right away or a moment afterward, in a horrid flash of regret. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/71/25171A-is-it-really-so-difficult-to-tell-good-action-from-mary-mccarthy.png)
Is it really so difficult to tell a good action from a bad one? I think one usually knows right away or a moment afterward, in a horrid flash of regret.
![All neurotics are petty bourgeois. And vice versa. Madness is too revolutionary for them. They can't go the whole hog. We madmen are the aristocrats of mental illness. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/65/36465A-all-neurotics-are-petty-bourgeois-and-vice-versa-madness-is-mary-mccarthy.png)
All neurotics are petty bourgeois. And vice versa. Madness is too revolutionary for them. They can't go the whole hog. We madmen are the aristocrats of mental illness.
![The souped-up novels that are being written today, with injections of myth and symbols to heighten or "deepen" the material, are simply evasions and forms of self-flattery. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/11/36611A-the-souped-up-novels-that-are-being-written-today-with-mary-mccarthy.png)
The souped-up novels that are being written today, with injections of myth and symbols to heighten or "deepen" the material, are simply evasions and forms of self-flattery.
![My father was a romancer and most of my memories of him are colored, I fear, by an untruthfulness that I must have caught from him, like one of the colds that ran round the family. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/63/30963A-my-father-was-a-romancer-and-most-my-memories-him-mary-mccarthy.png)
My father was a romancer and most of my memories of him are colored, I fear, by an untruthfulness that I must have caught from him, like one of the colds that ran round the family.
![The return to a favorite novel is generally tied up with changes in oneself that must be counted as improvements, but have the feel of losses. It is like going back to a favorite house, country, person; nothing is where it belongs, including one's heart. - Mary McCarthy quote.](/img/q/13/36613A-the-return-to-a-favorite-novel-is-generally-tied-up-mary-mccarthy.png)
The return to a favorite novel is generally tied up with changes in oneself that must be counted as improvements, but have the feel of losses. It is like going back to a favorite house, country, person; nothing is where it belongs, including one's heart.