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
character three stories
I once started a detective story to make money—but I couldn't get the murder to take place! At the end of three chapters I was still describing the characters and the milieu, so I thought, this is not going to work. No corpse!
favourite chaucer quotations
You know what my favourite quotation is?...It's from Chaucer... Criseyde says it, "I am myne owene woman, wel at ese.
cities venice doubt
The rationalist mind has always had its doubts about Venice. The watery city receives a dry inspection, as though it were a myth for the credulous- poets and honeymooners.
gardening facts sometimes
The fact is that gardening, more than most of our other activities except sometimes love-making, confronts us with the inexplicable.
friends believe people
The desire to believe the best of people is a prerequisite for intercourse with strangers; suspicion is reserved for friends.
advice cards attention
Be truthful... and pay attention. I would also recommend the avoidance of credit cards.
country book reading
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.
work-out soul mind
I shall never send for a priest or recite an Act of Contrition in my last moments. I do not mind if I lose my soul for all eternity. If the kind of God exists Who would damn me for not working out a deal with Him, then that is unfortunate. I should not care to spend eternity in the company of such a person.
writing past men
America is indeed a revelation, though not quite the one that was planned. Given a clean slate, man, it was hoped, would write the future. Instead, he has written his past.
political speech fancy
Congress-these, for the most part, illiterate hacks whose fancy vests are spotted with gravy, and whose speeches, hypocritical, unctuous, and slovenly, are spotted also with the gravy of political patronage.
mad records injustice
Anybody who has ever tried to rectify an injustice or set a record straight comes to feel that he is going mad.
consider facility intelligence intelligence-and-intellectuals seriously
We will need much better intelligence on this facility before we seriously consider any options.