Mary McCarthy Quotes

I'm not naive, I know that bad things happen, but most people do the right thing most of the time. Most people wake up and they try to do what's right for their relationships, whether it's marriage or family. They try to do what's right for their job. They try to make a better world for those around them, and that's what I want to write about.

Men's moral principles are weak enough without their being made subordinate to selfishness; and their selfishness is quite active enough, without any such effort as Christianity makes to constitute it the mainspring of all their conduct.

You people with hearts,' he said once, 'have something to guide you, and need never do wrong; but I have no heart, and so I must be very careful.

There can be no question of holding forth on ethics. I have seen people behave badly with great morality and I note every day that integrity has no need of rules

It's hard to explain," said Brutha. "But I think it's got something to do with how people should behave... you should do things because they're right. Not because gods say so. They might say something different another time.

I think what I've tried to do is make the world a better place. I think that's what's really important. Nobody remembers who sold the most togas in Rome. In terms of legacy, people remember the great villains more than they remember the great heroes. So I think how you feel about yourself is the most significant question. What do you say about yourself when you put your head on the pillow? Are you really proud of what you're doing and the way you're doing it? I think it's really a fundamental question.

Broken people misuse their power while people who have values don't use their powers in a way that harms.

Blood hardly defines one's character. We are made by our actions, not our blood. - Soren

It is this language of values which I hope to bring to my books. . . . I want to bring values to those who have not been valued, and I want to etch those values in terms of the ideal. Young people need ideals which identify them, and their lives, as central . . . guideposts which tell them what they can be, should be, and indeed are.

We follow the codes not because they bring gain, but because we loathe the people we would otherwise become.

Most thoughtful people would agree that morality in the absence of policing is somehow more truly moral than the kind of false morality that vanishes as soon as the police go on strike or the spy camera is switched off, whether the spy camera is a real one monitored in the police station or an imaginary one in heaven.

It would be a great thing if people could be brought to realize that they can never add to the sum of their happiness by doing wrong.

You meet saints everywhere. They can be anywhere. They are people behaving decently in an indecent society.

A disciplined conscience is a man's best friend. It may not be his most amiable, but it is his most faithful monitor.

The good refrain from sin from the pure love of virtue.

Most people don't base their morality on religion in spite what they say. If you ask people, "If you didn't believe in God, would you go out and kill your neighbour?" Most people will say, "No".

I firmly believe that we're all good people, but sometimes it's hard to understand how to do good.

What people believe impacts on what they do. And it's not as if religion is universally bad. Of course it's responsible for many peoples doing good actions.

All religion may be centered around a generally good idea, however, this has not stopped its adherents from acting like bastards.

Good people will do good things, lots of them, because they are good people. They will do bad things because they are human.

If you are doing something for reward or punishment, you do not have morality.

The way people behave towards each other is a measure of their value as human beings.

People should not worry as much about what they do but rather about what they are. If they and their ways are good, then their deeds are radiant... it is not our works which sanctify us but we who sanctify our works.

The key to acting with integrity is to simply stop playing the game.

Morality has nothing to do with such a man as I am.