Writer · American · 214 quotes
Forgiveness is like faith. You have to keep reviving it.
Mason Cooley
Writer · American
Lying just for the fun of it is either art or pathology.
Totem poles and wooden masks no longer suggest tribal villages but fashionable drawing rooms in New York and Paris.
People believe that photographs are true and therefore cannot be art.
Kindness eases everything almost as much as money does.
In bridge clubs and in councils of state, the passions are the same.
A real idea keeps changing and appears in many places.
Well-behaved: he always speaks as if his mother might be listening.
First literature came to refer only to itself, the literary theory.
As equality increases, so does the number of people struggling for predominance.
Bad faith likes discourse on friendship and loyalty.
The ravaged face in the mirror hides the enchanting youth that is the real me.
My passions have never jumped out of the fireplace and set fire to the carpet.
If the world would apologize, I might consider a reconciliation.
If I play hard to get, soon the phone stops ringing altogether.
The horse stares at its captor, barely remembering the free kicks of youth.
Who would not give up wit for power and beauty?
Mind and body obstruct one another's pleasures.
Magic trick: to make people disappear, ask them to fulfill their promises.
Writers mean more than they say and say more than they mean.
My thought has been shaped by books; my desires by pictures.
Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment we rise above ourselves.
People who abhor solitude may abhor company almost as much.
In every death, a busy world comes to an end.
Death is frightening, and so is Eternal Life.
Opportunity knocks, but doesn't always answer to its name.
Old age: I fall asleep during the funerals of my friends.
In the street, the gaze of desire is furtive or menacing.
Innocence: I am only stepping on your face because it lies in my path.
To confer dignity, forgive. To express contempt, forget.
To understand someone, find out how he spends his money.
Dancing and running shake up the chemistry of happiness.
Without civilization, we would not turn into animals, but vegetables.
Staid middle age loves the hurricane passions of opera.
Office politics are bloody-minded, but weak on content.
Creativity makes a leap, then looks to see where it is.
Preserving tradition has become a nice hobby, like stamp collecting.
Excuses change nothing, but make everyone feel better.
Living alone makes it harder to find someone to blame.
The shades of respectability begin to close about the greying head.
Most people regard getting their way as a matter of simple justice.
Logic and fact keep interfering with the easy flow of conversation.
Stated clearly enough, an idea may cancel itself out.
Reputation runs behind the current state of affairs.
Don't stare into a mirror when you are trying to solve a problem.
Reality is the name we give to our disappointments.
Fulfillment is often more trouble than it is worth.
If success is a habit, it is a hard one to acquire.
