The desire to believe the best of people is a prerequisite for intercourse with strangers; suspicion is reserved for friends.
Mary McCarthyFor both writer and reader, the novel is a lonely, physically inactive affair. Only the imagination races.
Mary McCarthyThe dictator is also the scapegoat; in assuming absolute authority, he assumes absolute guilt; and the oppressed masses, groaning under the yoke, know themselves to be innocent as lambs, while they pray hypocritically for deliverance.
Mary McCarthyI was going to get myself recognized at any price. If I could not win fame by goodness, I was ready to do it by badness.
Mary McCarthy