Top 350 Mignon McLaughlin Quotes (2026 Update)
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51. “Few of us write great novels; all of us live them.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

52. “A sense of humor is a major defense against minor troubles.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

53. “The hardest learned lesson: that people have only their kind of love to give, not our kind.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

54. “My doctor is nice; every time I see him, I’m ashamed of what I think of doctors in general.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

55. “Even cowards can endure hardship; only the brave can endure suspense.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

56. “Everybody can write; writers can’t do anything else.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

57. “I know which side my bread is buttered on: the side which falls on the carpet.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

58. “Women are afraid of mice and of murder, and of very little in between.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

59. “We catch frightful glimpses of ourselves in the hostile eyes of others.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

60. “The next voice you hear will undoubtedly be your own.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

61. “You can’t truthfully explain your smallest action without fully revealing your character.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

62. “In any family, measles are less contagious than bad habits.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

63. “Acedia is not in every dictionary; just in every heart.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

64. “We come late, if at all, to wine and philosophy: whiskey and action are easier.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

65. “We work for praise, and dawdle once we have it.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

66. “The time to begin most things is ten years ago.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

67. “People are like birds: on the wing, all beautiful; up close, all beady little eyes.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

68. “If you have to do it every day, for God’s sake learn to do it well.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

69. “After the chills and fever of love, how nice is the 98.6 degrees of marriage.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

70. “The head never rules the heart, but just becomes its partner in crime.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

71. “There’s an awful lot of blood around that water is thicker than.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

72. “The fear of being laughed at makes cowards of us all.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

73. “Surrounded by people who love life, you love it too; surrounded by people who don’t, you don’t.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

74. “Spring, summer, and fall fill us with hope; winter alone reminds us of the human condition.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

75. “Many things can make you miserable for weeks; few can bring you a whole day of happiness.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

76. “Learning too soon our limitations, we never learn our powers.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

77. “It’s innocence when it charms us, ignorance when it doesn’t.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

78. “Be glad that you’re greedy; the national economy would collapse if you weren’t.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

79. “It’s wonderful to watch a pretty woman with character grow beautiful.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

80. “The only mothers it is safe to forget on Mother’s Day are the good ones.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

81. “Every American child should grow up knowing a second language, preferably English.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

82. “Men enjoy being thought of as hunters, but are generally too lazy to hunt. Women, on the other hand, love to hunt, but would rather nobody knew it.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

83. “Too much money is as demoralizing as too little, and there’s no such thing as exactly enough...”

— Mignon McLaughlin

84. “Nostalgia for what we have lost is more bearable than nostalgia for what we have never had.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

85. “I’m glad I don’t have to explain to a man from Mars why each day I set fire to dozens of little pieces of paper, and then put them in my mouth.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

86. “With each passing year, one has less to say, and knows better how to say it.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

87. “What’s for dinner is the only question many husbands ask their wives, and the only one to which they care about the answer.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

88. “The proud man can learn humility, but he will be proud of it.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

89. “Men gossip less than women, but mean it.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

90. “Vanity, revenge, loneliness, boredom, all apply: lust is one of the least of the reasons for promiscuity.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

91. “When “Why not do it?” barely outweighs “Why do it?” – don’t do it.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

92. “When threatened, the first thing a democracy gives up is democracy.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

93. “Many who would not take the last cookie would take the last lifeboat.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

94. “Despair is anger with no place to go.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

95. “Society honors its living conformists and its dead troublemakers.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

96. “A hypochondriac is one who has a pill for everything except what ails him.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

97. “I’ve been hiding from God, and I’m appalled to find how easy it is.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

98. “Others follow patterns; we alone are unpredictable.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

99. “Happiness is like the penny candy of our youth: we got a lot more for our money back when we had no money.”

— Mignon McLaughlin

100. “There’s nothing wrong with most men’s egos that the kowtowing of a headwaiter can’t cure.”

— Mignon McLaughlin