If a person can be said to have the wrong attitude, there is no need to pay attention to his arguments. – John McCarthy
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. – John McCarthy
Once a person has killed other people on behalf of an ideology, he becomes rather devoted to it. – John McCarthy
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. – John McCarthy
In human history, the desire for revenge and the desire for loot have often been closely associated. – John McCarthy
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’. – John McCarthy
The slogan was ‘Don’t trust anyone over thirty’. Sixty years later the slogan became, ‘Don’t trust anyone over ninety’. – John McCarthy
With no more than six levels of misquotation, any statement can be made to say whatever you wish. – John McCarthy
Asking a critic to name his favorite book is like asking a butcher to name his favorite pig. – 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. – John McCarthy
Never abandon a theory that explains something until you have a theory that explains more. – John McCarthy
My hobby of not attending meetings about recycling saves more energy than your hobby of recycling. – John McCarthy
Slogans rarely convince the unconvinced. However, they do rally the troops already on your side. – John McCarthy
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. – John McCarthy
Proposals to forbid golf courses have about the same motivations as proposals to forbid skate boarding, although the rationalizations are different. – John McCarthy
