Quotes from book

Cannibals and Missionaries

“We all know in our gut that art educates. In other societies, they're aware of the power it has of speaking directly to the masses, teaching them to be better socialists, better citizens. The trouble is that with us it's fallen into the wrong hands. Forget the speculators… The concept of the collector is so rotten by now that it stinks.”

Mary McCarthy book Cannibals and Missionaries

Cannibals and Missionaries (1979)

“You never learn a language unless you use it.”

Mary McCarthy book Cannibals and Missionaries

Source: Cannibals and Missionaries (1979), Ch. 11

“Idealists, I know, are dangerous, but the claim of the ideal (Ibsen) has to be felt or else…. Or else the world, our deteriorating world, will continue on its course by sheer inertia. Inertia is taking over, right here; you can sense it.”

Mary McCarthy book Cannibals and Missionaries

From Sophie Weil's diary in "Envoi"
Cannibals and Missionaries (1979)