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John Mccarthy Quotes


A declining institution often experiences survival of the unfittest.

A true intellectual is a man who, after reading a book and being convinced by its arguments, will shoot someone or, more likely, order someone shot.

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.

Amateur bureaucrats are often even worse than professional bureaucrats.

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

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

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

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.

Committing genocide on behalf of an institution generates greater loyalty to it than merely getting people fired from their jobs on its behalf.

Compassion is contempt with a human face.

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.

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

Hard distinctions make bad philosophy.

Hardly anyone has noticed that in the Northern Hemisphere people stir their drinks counterclockwise, whereas the same people stir their drinks clockwise when visiting the Southern Hemisphere.

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

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

Honor among thieves is the ancestor of all honor.

If a person can be said to have the wrong attitude, there is no need to pay attention to his arguments.

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

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