Quotations From MARY MCCARTHY

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• 1.

  In violence we forget who we are.

  Mary McCarthy (1912-1989), U.S. author, critic. Characters in Fiction, On the Contrary, pt. 3 (1961).
• 2.

  The horror of Gandhi's murder lies not in the political motives behind it or in its consequences for Indian policy or for the future of non-violence; the horror lies simply in the fact that any man could look into the face of this extraordinary person and deliberately pull a trigger.

  Mary McCarthy (1912-1989), U.S. author, critic. On the Contrary (1961). "Gandhi," pt. 1, first publ. (1949).
  
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• 3.

  It has to be acknowledged that in capitalist society, with its herds of hippies, originality has become a sort of fringe benefit, a mere convention, accepted obsolescence, the Beatnik model being turned in for the Hippie model, as though strangely obedient to capitalist laws of marketing.

  Mary McCarthy (1912-1989), U.S. author, critic. "Language," Hanoi (1968).
• 4.

  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.

  Mary McCarthy (1912-1989), U.S. author. Memories of a Catholic Girlhood, ch. 1 (1957).
  
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• 5.

  Anti-Semitism is a horrible disease from which nobody is immune, and it has a kind of evil fascination that makes an enlightened person draw near the source of infection, supposedly in a scientific spirit, but really to sniff the vapors and dally with the possibility.

  Mary McCarthy (1912-1989), U.S. author, critic. "Settling the Colonel's Hash," pt. 3, On the Contrary (first published 1954, repr. 1961).
  
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• 6.

  In politics, it seems, retreat is honorable if dictated by military considerations and shameful if even suggested for ethical reasons.

  Mary McCarthy (1912-1989), U.S. author, critic. "Solutions," Vietnam (1967).
• 7.

  The immense popularity of American movies abroad demonstrates that Europe is the unfinished negative of which America is the proof.

  Mary McCarthy (1912-1989), U.S. author, critic. repr. In On the Contrary (1961). "America the Beautiful," first published in Commentary (September 1947).
  
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• 8.

  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 (1912-1989), U.S. author, critic. repr. In On the Contrary (1961). "America the Beautiful," Commentary (New York, Sept. 1947).
• 9.

  The happy ending is our national belief.

  Mary McCarthy (1912-1989), U.S. author, critic. "America the Beautiful: The Humanist in the Bathtub," pt. 1, On the Contrary (first published Sept. 1947, repr. 1962).
  
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• 10.

  Every age has a keyhole to which its eye is pasted.

  Mary McCarthy (1912-1989), U.S. author, critic. (First published 1953). "My Confession," pt. 1, On the Contrary (1961).