Quotes By John McCarthy

Of course, Third World leaders love you. By ascribing third world ills to First World sins, you absolve them of blame for their countries' failure to advance.

Language is froth on the surface of thought.

Don't try to talk anyone out of concentrating his hatred on Ayn Rand or any other dead person. It can't harm the dead. Diverted to a living person, it might actually do harm.

A declining institution often experiences survival of the unfittest.

If I owned Marseilles and Hell, I'd rent out Marseilles and live in Hell.

An excessive knowledge of Marxism is a sign of a misspent youth.

With no more than six levels of misquotation, any statement can be made to say whatever you wish.

When I see a slippery slope, my instinct is to build a terrace.

We modern Marxists regard socialism as a historically brief transitional stage between feudalism and capitalism, necessary only in backward countries.

Both politicians and journalists face situations which strain their honesty and humanity. My opinion is that politicians on the average stand up somewhat better than journalists.

Hard distinctions make bad philosophy.

The peace movement is a great force for peace. Some of the world's most quarrelsome people act out their aggressions through the peace movement.

His ambition is to be the spider in the World Wide Web.

It is said that man doesn't live by bread alone. Sometimes this is unfortunate, because people who cannot live by bread alone too often kill other people in consequence of the fights they get into.

An extreme optimist is a man who believes that humanity will probably survive even if it doesn't take his advice.

My hobby of not attending meetings about recycling saves more energy than your hobby of recycling.

In human history, the desire for revenge and the desire for loot have often been closely associated.

The difference between a contemporary liberal and a socialist is that to a liberal the most beautiful word in the English language is 'forbidden', whereas to a socialist the most beautiful word is 'compulsory'.

Suicidal terrorists may have short shelf lives.

Slogans rarely convince the unconvinced. However, they do rally the troops already on your side.

Inside of many liberals is a fascist struggling to get out.

Asking a critic to name his favorite book is like asking a butcher to name his favorite pig.

There is only one thing more harmful to society than an elected official forgetting the promises he made in order to get elected; that's when he doesn't forget them.

Amateur bureaucrats are often even worse than professional bureaucrats.

Never abandon a theory that explains something until you have a theory that explains more.

He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.

Proposals to forbid golf courses have about the same motivations as proposals to forbid skate boarding, although the rationalizations are different.

Compassion is contempt with a human face.

Foolishness is rarely a matter of lack of intelligence or even lack of information.

Alas few socialists are either benevolent enough to work hard at these occupations out of benevolence or self-interested enough to work hard at them for money.