We all live in suspense, from day to day, from hour to hour; in other words, we are the hero of our own story.
Mary MccarthyRead
Europe is the unfinished negative of which America is the proof.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that Europe represents potential or a past that America has successfully realized.
Mary McCarthy's quote implies that Europe, with its rich history and culture, represents the unrealized possibilities and contradictions that America has come to embody. It highlights a dichotomy between the two continents, where America stands as a testament to what can emerge from the unfinished ideals and challenges that Europeans faced. Essentially, it reflects on the idea that America's existence and progress are the proof of Europe's broader historical and cultural narratives, as well as its untapped potential.
Themes
EuropeAmericaHistoryIdentityCultureContradiction
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on transatlantic relations, this quote can illustrate the complexities of European and American identities.
More from Mary Mccarthy
All quotes →The exile is a singular, whereas refugees tend to be thought of in the mass ... What is implied in these nuances of social standing is the respect we pay to choice. The exile appears to have made a decision, while the refugee is the very image of helplessness.
Mary MccarthyRead
Every word she writes is a lie, including "and" and "the."
Mary MccarthyRead
Anti-Semitism is a horrible disease from which nobody is immune, and it has a kind of evil fascination that makes an enlightened person draw near the source of infection, supposedly in a scientific spirit, but really to sniff the vapors and dally with the possibility.
Mary MccarthyRead
If one means by style the voice, the irreducible and always recognizable and alive thing, then of course style is really everything.
Mary MccarthyRead
To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.
Mary MccarthyRead
Similar quotes
My soul is not contained within the limits of my body; my body is contained within the limitlessness of my soul.
Jim CarreyRead
I'm a pessimist if I'm not careful, a feminist, a Black,...an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive.
Octavia ButlerRead
None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but licence.
John MiltonRead
Remember and understand well that where Peter is, there is the Church; that those who refuse to associate in communion with the Chair of Peter belong to Antichrist, not to Christ. He who would separate himself from the Roman Pontiff has no further bond with Christ.
Pope Leo XiiiRead
I think perfect objectivity is an unrealistic goal; fairness, however, is not
Michael PollanRead
There lived a redheaded man who had no eyes or ears. He didn’t have hair either, so he was called a redhead arbitrarily. He couldn’t talk because he had no mouth. He had no nose either. He didn’t even have arms or legs. He had no stomach, he had no back, he had no spine, and he had no innards at all. He didn’t have anything. So we don’t even know who we’re talking about. It’s better that we don’t talk about him any more.
Daniil KharmsRead