“If someone tells you he is going to make "a realistic decision," you immediately understand that he has resolved to do something bad.”

"The American Realist Playwrights", p. 296. First published in Harper's Magazine (July 1961)
On the Contrary: Articles of Belief 1946–1961 (1961)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "If someone tells you he is going to make "a realistic decision," you immediately understand that he has resolved to do …" by Mary McCarthy?
Mary McCarthy photo
Mary McCarthy 79
American writer 1912–1989

Related quotes

H. Beam Piper photo
Stanisław Lem photo
Oswald Chambers photo

“Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is.”

Oswald Chambers (1874–1917) British missionary

Source: My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year

Ian Smith photo
Orson Scott Card photo

“He’d undone all he could. You can be sorry, and you can be forgiven, but you can’t call back the futures that your bad decisions lost. He didn’t need no philosopher to tell him that.”

Orson Scott Card (1951) American science fiction novelist

Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Prentice Alvin (1989), Chapter 9.

“When you hate someone you used to love, and you think he's done something awful - he probably has.”

E. Lockhart (1967) American writer of novels as E. Lockhart (mainly for teenage girls) and of picture books under real name Emily J…

Source: The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver

Ronald Reagan photo

“How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.”

Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)

Remarks in Arlington, Virginia http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1987/092587b.htm (25 September 1987)
1980s, Second term of office (1985–1989)

Erich Fried photo

“Do not doubt him who tells you he is afraid, but be afraid of him who tells you he has no doubts.”

Erich Fried (1921–1988) Austrian writer

Original German text: "Zweifle nicht an dem der dir sagt er hat Angst, aber hab Angst vor dem der dir sagt, er kennt keinen Zweifel."
from "100 Gedichte ohne Vaterland", pub. 1978.

Related topics