Marya Mannes Quotes

The earth we abuse and the living things we kill will, in the end, take their revenge; for in exploiting their presence we are diminishing our future.

Euthanasia ... is simply to be able to die with dignity at a moment when life is devoid of it.

Generosity with strings is not generosity: it is a deal.

It's never what you say, but how you make it sound sincere.

The process of maturing is an art to be learned, an effort to be sustained. By the age of fifty you have made yourself what you are, and if it is good, it is better than your youth.

Human progress had so often been checked by those who were afraid of losing what they had.

A high standard of living is usually accompanied by a low standard of thinking.

What is asserted by a man is an opinion; what is asserted by a woman is opinionated. A woman with ideas and the ability to express them is something of a social embarrassment, like an unhousebroken pet.

In our society those who are in reality superior in intelligence can be accepted by their fellows only if they pretend they are not.

Infants are interesting only to their parents.

Everybody likes to see somebody else get caught for the vices practiced by themselves.

Timing and arrogance are decisive factors in the successful use of talent.

All great lovers are articulate, and verbal seduction is the surest road to actual seduction.

There is nothing harder to come by than detachment and solitude; and nothing more important.

The more people are reached by mass communication, the less they communicate with each other.

Self-restraint may be alien to the human temperament, but humanity without restraint will dig its own grave.

Women are repeatedly accused of taking things personally. I cannot see any other honest way of taking them.

The great omission in American life is solitude; not loneliness, for this is an alienation that thrives most in the midst of crowds, but that zone of time and space, free from the outside pressures, which is the incubator of the spirit.

The right to choose death when life no longer holds meaning is not only the next liberation but the last human right.

If American men are obsessed with money, American women are obsessed with weight. The men talk of gain, the women talk of loss, and I do not know which talk is the more boring.

certain kinds of people become Republicans and certain kinds of people become Democrats, and ... it's more than a matter of party affiliation. It's a way of thinking and being.

Hoary idea, in any case, expecting a woman to surrender her name to her husband's in exchange for his. Why? Would any man submerge his identity and heritage to the woman he wed?

Is there no end to this escalation of desire?

We pity or condemn the communist peoples of the world for being bound in the chains of doctrine. So are we. Our doctrine runs as follows: Our Way is the Only Way.

People on horses look better than they are. People in cars look worse than they are.