Charles Mackay Quotes

I was always the kid at school who thought it was a good idea to set off the fire alarm. And much as I'm aware that that's a trait which also propels other things which are good, I wish I could just pause and go, 'Is this really what you want to do?'

I'll probably be punished for hard living.

You might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.

Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.

I regret what happened. I saw no other possibility to achieve my goal. It was not hooliganism.

I want to be a jerk like the rest of my friends, and have fun, and not care about the consequences, but I just can't now.

My childlike qualities sometimes lead me to jump into projects without thinking of the consequences.

I think there's something in the human psyche that we're titillated by the person who flies too close to the candle and their wings get singed.

It's like gambling somehow. You go out for a night of drinking and you don't know where your going to end up the next day. It could work out good or it could be disastrous. It's like the throw of the dice.

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.

If you want to cut your own throat, don't come to me for a bandage.

I did everything by the seat of my pants. That's why I got hurt so much.

The definition of a stupid thing is something that if you do everything right, you still get hurt. Fire-eating and love are stupid things.

You take unacceptable risk, you have to be prepared to face the consequence.

So many people treat you like you're a kid so you might as well act like one and throw your television out of the hotel window.

It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not pay with their own.

If he wanted to throw himself in the well, would you follow?

Nations like individuals, when driven to choose between desperate courses, might at times be compelled to take the chance of destruction, often destroying themselves or suffering irreparable harm.

Everyone here wants to drag me into your particular projects. I’ve always supported what you wanted to do, even when I disagreed. You wanted to go raise hell—but they were going to blame me. You have all these brilliant ideas. But I’m the one that’s going to get killed.

If I do bad, shoot me.

I don't know if it's a very smart idea to admire the living.

Gamble until you die. I do not really care.

It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.

Indeed, many of life's most fun and pleasurable choices come with potential dangers. It's important for my son to grow up recognizing that what might appear exciting or inviting at first glance could also have eventual negative consequences.

If you don't show up, you lose.