Top 500 Mason Cooley Quotes (2026 Update)
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401. “We often disguise our reflexes as deliberate actions.”

— Mason Cooley

402. “The nudes of art are not so distant from pornography as prudish pedants pretend.”

— Mason Cooley

403. “What I eat turns into my body. What I read turns into my mind.”

— Mason Cooley

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404. “Passion cooks. Reason cleans.”

— Mason Cooley

405. “Being enthusiastic settles nothing.”

— Mason Cooley

406. “The right time to die is never exactly now.”

— Mason Cooley

407. “I can neither return your love nor dismiss it.”

— Mason Cooley

408. “Keep your lies short and simple.”

— Mason Cooley

409. “People who expect deference resent mere civility.”

— Mason Cooley

410. “True self is the part of us that does not change when circumstances do.”

— Mason Cooley

411. “Grandiosity lessens as work proceeds.”

— Mason Cooley

412. “Enjoy the insult as you deliver it, before you learn its cost.”

— Mason Cooley

413. “My mother’s mild-eyed sadness looks at me from the eyes of those I love.”

— Mason Cooley

414. “Pornography does not inspire violence, but you can break a leg trying to imitate it.”

— Mason Cooley

415. “As a comforter, philosophy cannot compete with a good dinner.”

— Mason Cooley

416. “Sacred or not, sacrifice is an ugly business.”

— Mason Cooley

417. “The harp is an insipid instrument – no good for dancing, feasting, or marching, only for sitting primly in a parlor or on a cloud.”

— Mason Cooley

418. “The dignified catastrophes of tragedy bear little resemblance to the slow ruin inflicted by life.”

— Mason Cooley

419. “As I review my life, I feel I must have missed the point, either then or now.”

— Mason Cooley

420. “Confess to the misdeeds you cannot hide.”

— Mason Cooley

421. “When a man bores a woman, she complains. When a woman bores a man, he ignores her.”

— Mason Cooley

422. “My intentions go one way, my desires another. Thus I feel both self-indulgent and deprived.”

— Mason Cooley

423. “A beautiful woman peers out her window, as full of envy as the harridan who peers up at her from the street.”

— Mason Cooley

424. “Kindness eases everything almost as much as money does.”

— Mason Cooley

425. “Under attack, sentiments harden into dogma.”

— Mason Cooley

426. “If you have no power, talk about your influence. If you have power, talk about the constraints that hem you in.”

— Mason Cooley

427. “Ideas about life organize perception; names of emotions organize sensations; rules of syntax organize thought. But pain comes on its own.”

— Mason Cooley

428. “To avoid eye contact, kiss.”

— Mason Cooley

429. “Growth provides novel experiences for youth; decay the same, alas, for age.”

— Mason Cooley

430. “Folly always knows the answer.”

— Mason Cooley

431. “Every literary critic believes he will outwit history and have the last word.”

— Mason Cooley

432. “Dieting is our last tie with asceticism.”

— Mason Cooley

433. “Emblem: the carapace of the great crowned snail is painted with all the flags of the United Nations.”

— Mason Cooley

434. “Writing about an idea frees me of it. Thinking about it is a circle of repetitions.”

— Mason Cooley

435. “Self-analysis always cheats.”

— Mason Cooley

436. “Pride sings and dances; humility sighs.”

— Mason Cooley

437. “Great talkers do not stop for breath, and never look at the clock.”

— Mason Cooley

438. “The passions are the same in every conflict, large or small.”

— Mason Cooley

439. “The more knowledge, the clearer what the doubts are.”

— Mason Cooley

440. “Dreams are distorted representations of desire. So are dream- analyses.”

— Mason Cooley

441. “When you feel protective toward your parents, you have become an adult.”

— Mason Cooley

442. “I like what I do for a living. I also like NOT doing it – perhaps even more.”

— Mason Cooley

443. “I am invigorated by work, wasted by pleasure.”

— Mason Cooley

444. “Talk about yourself as much as you like, but do not expect others to listen.”

— Mason Cooley

445. “Now defined as art, the totem has lost cult, taboo, and custom.”

— Mason Cooley

446. “Only those in comfortable circumstances think love is the most important thing.”

— Mason Cooley

447. “The rich feel full of merit.”

— Mason Cooley

448. “Never ask a bore a question.”

— Mason Cooley

449. “Life is the risk we cannot refuse.”

— Mason Cooley

450. “I alternate between reading cook books and reading diet books.”

— Mason Cooley

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