Mason Cooley Quotes

My aspiration now is to get by luck what I could not get by merit.

Couples who come to understand one another often part.

Cynicism often draws correct conclusions, but nobody could live by its lights.

Envy awakens at the sound of a distant laugh.

After Voltaire: envy is chained to the portico of the temple of glory and can neither enter nor leave.

Never lie in writing.

At the dinner table, if you can't think of anything to say, sit quietly. Don't throw rolls, or chew on your napkin.

My ambition in life: to become successful enough to resume my career as a neurasthenic.

Self-righteous victims invite extra nails.

Self-hatred is sometimes appropriate.

I am too impatient to wait for temptation to come to me.

Either offer me something I really like, or stop trying to tempt me.

Like other secret lovers, many speak mockingly about popular culture to conceal their passion for it.

My noisy denunciation trails off in doubt.

Electricity, water, gas, and steam course through the walls of my building, keeping it alive.

Tears are great peace-makers.

Shaw writes as if it were always midday.

The best hand always believes in playing by the rules.

I enjoy my rights, but I revel in my privileges.

Denial of one appetite sharpens the others.

Antagonistic cooperation is the principle of all markets and many marriages.

We understand through resemblance.

Insecurity is not just a state of mind.

The suburbs: signs of life, but no proofs.

Our public monuments are memorials to the Enlightenment.

Rescue someone unwilling to look after himself, and he will cling to you like a dangerous illness.

Families in which nothing is ever discussed usually have a lot not to discuss.

The aim of literary ambition is to demonstrate one's greatness of soul.

Often, when I want to consult my impulses, I cannot find them.

Reason enables us to get around in the world of ideas, but cannot prescribe our thoughts.

Reputation runs behind the current state of affairs.

Unlike the actual, the fictional explains itself.

Sometimes I discover I have changed my mind because I have forgotten what I used to think.

Alone, I am satisfied with myself. With others, I am beset by troubling comparisons.

An insult angers me. Being ignored crushes me.

I seldom remember my father, but I sneeze and rub my nose the way he did. I also love my son with grief and anger, as he did.

I tried good taste, but the strain was too much for me.

Experience teaches us, but we scarcely know what.

Art can make chaos seductive.

Never ask a bore a question.

I know that I am what I am. But I am not sure what I am.

People may show jealousy, but hide their envy.

With every physical pain, my moral fibre unravels a little.

When death comes too near, comedy and tragedy fall silent.

Comedy defends the commonplace; tragedy explodes it.

Don't tell me it's raining when you're peeing on me!

When appearance and reality coincide, philosophy and literary criticism find themselves with nothing to say.

In philosophy, the principles are more interesting than the examples. In literature, the examples are more interesting than the principles.

In the present age, a man with harmonious ideas is regarded as out of touch.

Life is struggle and sleep.