Top 41 Quotes & Sayings by John McCarthy

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American politician John McCarthy.
Last updated on April 20, 2025.
John McCarthy

John Jay McCarthy was a Nebraska Republican politician.

Amateur bureaucrats are often even worse than professional bureaucrats.
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.
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. — © John McCarthy
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.
Language is froth on the surface of thought.
Hard distinctions make bad philosophy.
An excessive knowledge of Marxism is a sign of a misspent youth.
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.
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.
Honor among thieves is the ancestor of all honor.
His ambition is to be the spider in the World Wide Web.
Never abandon a theory that explains something until you have a theory that explains more.
In human history, the desire for revenge and the desire for loot have often been closely associated.
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.
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense. — © John McCarthy
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
My opinion is that he's a swindler and you're a sucker.
The slogan was 'Don't trust anyone over thirty'. Sixty years later the slogan became, 'Don't trust anyone over ninety'.
Foolishness is rarely a matter of lack of intelligence or even lack of information.
Asking a critic to name his favorite book is like asking a butcher to name his favorite pig.
An extreme optimist is a man who believes that humanity will probably survive even if it doesn't take his advice.
Slogans rarely convince the unconvinced. However, they do rally the troops already on your side.
Soccer riots kill at most tens. Intellectuals' ideological riots sometimes kill millions.
When I see a slippery slope, my instinct is to build a terrace.
My hobby of not attending meetings about recycling saves more energy than your hobby of recycling.
Proposals to forbid golf courses have about the same motivations as proposals to forbid skate boarding, although the rationalizations are different.
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.
Committing genocide on behalf of an institution generates greater loyalty to it than merely getting people fired from their jobs on its behalf.
Inside of many liberals is a fascist struggling to get out.
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.
If a person can be said to have the wrong attitude, there is no need to pay attention to his arguments. — © John McCarthy
If a person can be said to have the wrong attitude, there is no need to pay attention to his arguments.
With no more than six levels of misquotation, any statement can be made to say whatever you wish.
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'.
A declining institution often experiences survival of the unfittest.
If I owned Marseilles and Hell, I'd rent out Marseilles and live in Hell.
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.
Compassion is contempt with a human face.
Self-righteousness has killed more people than smoking.
When thugs by nature meet thugs by political conviction, 5-0 is not surprising.
Suicidal terrorists may have short shelf lives.
We modern Marxists regard socialism as a historically brief transitional stage between feudalism and capitalism, necessary only in backward countries.
Once a person has killed other people on behalf of an ideology, he becomes rather devoted to it. — © John McCarthy
Once a person has killed other people on behalf of an ideology, he becomes rather devoted to it.
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