Mary McCarthy Quotes

I believe in things that move people, if the audience isn't deeply caught up and moved to either laughter or tears then I don't think it is theater.

Theatre should be a taxing experience: the greatest achievement of a writer is to produce a character who creates anxiety.

Sensitive, responsive, eagerly welcomed everywhere, the drama, holding the mirror up to nature, by laughter and by tears reveals to mankind the world of men.

Tension is all about, 'Why is this taking so long?' The interesting thing about that is that it's also the tension of comedy. The tension of drama and comedy is similar, and that's why usually you can get a big laugh in a really tense moment because people need that release.

I want you to laugh and cry. That's what I do.

The things we laugh at are awful while they are going on, but get funny when we look back. And other people laugh because they've been through it too. The closest thing to humor is tragedy.

Humor is the mistress of tears.

Laughing and crying, you know it's the same release.

Happy endings always made her cry. It was the relief.

Laughing is not the first expression of joy. ... A person laughs in idleness, for fun, not for joy. Joy has nothing, nothing but the old way of tears.

We both laugh. And it feels good. A release. Like laughing at a funeral. Maybe inappropriate, but definitely needed.

I saw the destruction of Dresden. I saw the city before and then came out of an air-raid shelter and saw it afterward, and certainly one response was laughter. God knows, that's the soul seeking some relief.

I have seen her and sister cry over a book for an hour together, and they said, they liked the book the better the more it made them cry.

Whenever I drink champagne I either laugh or cry...I get so emotional! I love champagne.

Listen, Dundy, it's been a long time since I burst into tears because a policeman didn't like me.

Jokes can be noble. Laughs are exactly as honorable as tears. Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion, to the futility of thinking and striving anymore. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward - and since I can start thinking and striving again that much sooner.

I was caught in a private cycle of sadness and the only conceivable relief I could find was in the telling.

There is nothing quite so satisfying, and so healing, as a good cry.

It's not true unless it makes you laugh, but you don't understand it until it makes you weep.

Theatre audiences can't be made to think and cry: at best, they can be made to think and laugh, or to feel and cry.

I'm interested in the moments where the audience is restless. I'm interested in the moments where they lean in and become incredibly engaged: the laughter, the silence. All of that is part of how I think about shaping and rewriting the play.

Sipping Bailey's Cream by the stereo, trying to find relief on the radio. I'm suppressing the tears.

It's much easier to write a solemn book than a funny book. It's harder to make people laugh than it is to make them cry. People are always on the verge of tears.

When I'm on stage, and when I'm comfortable or uncomfortable, I have sort of a knee-jerk reaction to try to make people laugh. It's my version of a handshake to show that I want to make a connection and to show what I'm truly like. It's kind of my statement like, "This is what I'm really like. I'd like you to love me."

I think I've just lost five pounds in fear sweat." Peabody mopped at her face. "Now I want a cannoli. I don't know why." With a laugh, Roarke shifted to grin at her. "I'll buy you a dozen, precious." "Cannolis, for God's sake.