Welcome to our collection of insightful quotes by Mary McCarthy. Mary McCarthy was an American writer and critic known for her keen intellect, sharp wit, and unapologetic honesty. Through her novels, essays, and critiques, McCarthy fearlessly explored the complexities of human nature, society, and politics, leaving an indelible mark on American literature.
With a remarkable ability to dissect social conventions and challenge conventional wisdom, Mary McCarthy’s words resonate with readers across generations. Whether she was dissecting the hypocrisies of the intellectual elite or delving into the intricacies of human relationships, McCarthy’s observations are as relevant today as they were during her lifetime. Her writing is characterized by its incisiveness, wit, and unwavering commitment to truth.
The labor of keeping house is labor in its most naked state, for labor is toil that never finishes, toil that has to be begun again the moment it is completed, toil that is destroyed and consumed by the life process. Mary McCarthy
I suppose everyone continues to be interested in the quest for the self, but what you feel when you’re older, I think, is that you really must make the self. Mary McCarthy
You musn’t force sex to do the work of love or love to do the work of sex. Mary McCarthy
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
Labor is work that leaves no trace behind it when it is finished, or if it does, as in the case of the tilled field, this product of human activity requires still more labor, incessant, tireless labor, to maintain its identity as a ‘work’ of man. Mary McCarthy
Every word she writes is a lie, including and and the. Mary McCarthy
Liberty, as it is conceived by current opinion, has nothing inherent about it; it is a sort of gift or trust bestowed on the individual by the state pending good behavior. Mary McCarthy
People with bad consciences always fear the judgment of children. Mary McCarthy
I am putting real plums into an imaginary cake. Mary McCarthy
Being abroad makes you conscious of the whole imitative side of human behavior. The ape in man. Mary McCarthy
The suspense of a novel is not only in the reader, but in the novelist, who is intensely curious about what will happen to the hero. Mary McCarthy
The theater is the only branch of art much cared for by people of wealth; like canasta, it does away with the brother of talk after dinner. Mary McCarthy
Bureaucracy, the rule of no one, has become the modern form of despotism. Mary McCarthy
I’m afraid I’m not sufficiently inhibited about the things that other women are inhibited about for me. They feel that you’ve given away trade secrets. Mary McCarthy
Every age has a keyhole to which its eye is pasted. Mary McCarthy
In violence, we forget who we are. Mary McCarthy
We all live in suspense from day to day; in other words, you are the hero of your own story. Mary McCarthy
When an American heiress wants to buy a man, she at once crosses the Atlantic. The only really materialistic people I have ever met have been Europeans. Mary McCarthy
In science, all facts, no matter how trivial or banal, enjoy democratic equality. Mary McCarthy
We are the hero of our own story. Mary McCarthy
The American character looks always as if it had just had a rather bad haircut, which gives it, in our eyes at any rate, a greater humanity than the European, which even among its beggars has an all too professional air. Mary McCarthy
Europe is the unfinished negative of which America is the proof. Mary McCarthy
The immense popularity of American movies abroad demonstrates that Europe is the unfinished negative of which America is the proof. Mary McCarthy
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
In politics, it seems, retreat is honorable if dictated by military considerations and shameful if even suggested for ethical reasons. Mary McCarthy
Life for the European is a career; for the American it is a hazard. Mary McCarthy