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Quote by Mary McCarthy

“America is indeed a revelation, though not quite the one that was planned. Given a clean slate, man, it was hoped, would write the future. Instead, he has written his past.”

Quote by Mary McCarthy

Book:The humanist in the bathtub

Work

The humanist in the bathtub

This book delves into the introspective world of a humanist, capturing their thoughts and experiences as they navigate the complexities of contemporary life. Set in a bathtub, the narrative provides a unique perspective on personal reflection and the human condition. more

Author

Mary McCarthy was a prominent American author born on June 21, 1912, and passed away on October 25, 1989. Known for her incisive social criticism and nuanced portrayal of human nature, she is considered one of the most influential figures in 20th-century American literature. more

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“If you talked or laughed in church, told lies, had impure thoughts or conversations, you were bad; if you obeyed your parents or guardians, went to confession and communion regularly, said prayers for the dead, you were good.”

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“The only form of action open to a child is to break something or strike someone, its mother or another child; it cannot cause things to happen in the world.”

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Source: The humanist in the bathtub

“Congress-these, for the most part, illiterate hacks whose fancy vests are spotted with gravy, and whose speeches, hypocritical, unctuous, and slovenly, are spotted also with the gravy of political patronage.”

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Book:The humanist in the bathtub

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“With extramarital courtship, the deception was prolonged where it had been ephemeral, necessary where it had been frivolous, conspiratorial where it had been lonely.”

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“The famous Florentine elegance, which attracts tourists to the shops on Via Tornabuoni and Via della Vigna Nuova, is characterized by austerity of line, simplicity, economy of effect.”

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Source: The Stones of Florence

“Anybody who has ever tried to rectify an injustice or set a record straight comes to feel that he is going mad.”

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Book:The humanist in the bathtub

Source: The humanist in the bathtub

“Leisure was the sine qua non of the full Renaissance. The feudal nobility, having lost its martial function, sought diversion all over Europe in cultivated pastimes: sonneteering, the lute, games and acrostics, travel, gentlemanly studies and sports, hunting and hawking, treated as arts.”

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Book:Venice observed

Source: Venice observed

“All ideas advanced to deal with the Florentine noise problem, the Florentine traffic problem, are Utopian, and nobody believes in them, just as nobody believed in Machiavelli's Prince, a Utopian image of the ideally self-interested despot.”

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Book:The Stones of Florence

Source: The Stones of Florence

“It is impossible, except for theologians, to conceive of a world-wide scandal or a universe-wide scandal; the proof of this is the way people have settled down to living with nuclear fission, radiation poisoning, hydrogen bombs, satellites, and space rockets.”

Source: The humanist in the bathtub