Mason Cooley Quotes
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301. “Literature gives us a memory of lives we did not lead.”

— Mason Cooley

302. “History takes place between the Fall and the Apocalypse, with a narrow escape route called Salvation.”

— Mason Cooley

303. “Sexual attraction pairs people, but does not match them.”

— Mason Cooley

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

— Mason Cooley

305. “The Ancient Mariner seizes the guest at the wedding feast and will not let go until he has told all his story: the prototype of the bore.”

— Mason Cooley

306. “Tolerance is a placid contempt.”

— Mason Cooley

307. “Self-satisfaction and self-pity are both condemned. What are people permitted to feel about themselves?”

— Mason Cooley

308. “Jealousy is inconsolable because it cannot know the beloved.”

— Mason Cooley

309. “After rejection – misery, then thoughts of revenge, and finally, oh well, another try elsewhere.”

— Mason Cooley

310. “Many attempt to harvest what was never planted.”

— Mason Cooley

311. “Mathematics: silent harmonies. Music: sounding numbers.”

— Mason Cooley

312. “Death promises nothing – not even oblivion.”

— Mason Cooley

313. “No chaos, no creation. Evidence: the kitchen at mealtime.”

— Mason Cooley

314. “Disappointment proves that expectations were mistaken.”

— Mason Cooley

315. “Only the most lucid can see their love as comedy.”

— Mason Cooley

316. “Sleepy-head is no longer aroused by tragic imaginings.”

— Mason Cooley

317. “The suburbs: signs of life, but no proofs.”

— Mason Cooley

318. “Frivolous sorrow is folly. Frivolous enjoyment is not.”

— Mason Cooley

319. “Our vices are attempts to combine self-medication and enjoyment.”

— Mason Cooley

320. “An imprudent enemy is less dangerous than an imprudent friend.”

— Mason Cooley

321. “People who abhor solitude may abhor company almost as much.”

— Mason Cooley

322. “The beginning of self-knowledge: recognizing that your motives are the same as other people’s.”

— Mason Cooley

323. “I am the center of the world, but the control panel seems to be somewhere else.”

— Mason Cooley

324. “The New Right: kiss the bankers and spank the babies.”

— Mason Cooley

325. “Idleness makes people feeble and peevish. Work makes them stalwart and prone to anger.”

— Mason Cooley

326. “The worship of Mammon may be vulgar or immoral, but it persists while other religions falter and disappear.”

— Mason Cooley

327. “Envy awakens at the sound of a distant laugh.”

— Mason Cooley

328. “Wit: a whim followed by a wham.”

— Mason Cooley

329. “Sometimes the only way to become grounded is to hit bottom.”

— Mason Cooley

330. “A sense of righteousness is even more dangerous than a violent temper.”

— Mason Cooley

331. “Shameless: Punish me for my desire if you will. It burns still.”

— Mason Cooley

332. “At sixty, I know little more about wisdom than I did at thirty, but I know a great deal more about folly.”

— Mason Cooley

333. “Self-righteous victims invite extra nails.”

— Mason Cooley

334. “Only the broken-hearted know the truth about love.”

— Mason Cooley

335. “Mind and body obstruct one another’s pleasures.”

— Mason Cooley

336. “The Olympian gods cannot have grand passions because they cannot die.”

— Mason Cooley

337. “Memories contain hidden editorials on current events.”

— Mason Cooley

338. “Progress may feel more like loss than gain.”

— Mason Cooley

339. “Even in rapture, part of the mind watches.”

— Mason Cooley

340. “Drunks conjure an endless drama from their bottles.”

— Mason Cooley

341. “Beauty compels us; reason merely cajoles.”

— Mason Cooley

342. “The muse is blind as Cupid and skittish as Diana.”

— Mason Cooley

343. “Healthy vanity sweeps through life. Sickly vanity lies in bed.”

— Mason Cooley

344. “Lying just for the fun of it is either art or pathology.”

— Mason Cooley

345. “Reclusive? The inner city will secure your privacy better than any desert cave.”

— Mason Cooley

346. “An adolescent is both an impulsive child and a self-starting adult.”

— Mason Cooley

347. “Self-absorption intensifies isolation, but permits it to go unnoticed.”

— Mason Cooley

348. “Think carefully before asking for justice. Mercy might be safer.”

— Mason Cooley

349. “Living alone makes it harder to find someone to blame.”

— Mason Cooley

350. “Hypocrisy is the outside of cynicism.”

— Mason Cooley