Quotes from Mason Cooley

Women encourage men to be childish, then scold them.

When a modest man praises himself, people listen.

In the present age, a man with harmonious ideas is regarded as out of touch.

An old man drinks tea and reads the newspaper--forgetting age for a moment.

God improvises. Man systematizes.

Man invented the gods. Then the gods went off on their own, but not far.

Old men feel a slightly reluctant affection for one another.

The man in the street is always a stranger.

Young men preen. Old men scheme.

Natural Man, in our current version, is a disgruntled adolescent.

Old photograph: amid the set poses of her family, a young girl smiles and raises her hand a little.

The passion for money is never fickle.

Money is to my social existence what health is to my body.

To understand someone, find out how he spends his money.

Kindness eases everything almost as much as money does.

I am only interested in money because everyone else is.

Money comes to life as it is spent.

Awakening in the morning returns us to life, and to awareness of death.

Well-behaved: he always speaks as if his mother might be listening.

My mother's mild-eyed sadness looks at me from the eyes of those I love.

My mother wanted to shrink from my clinging, but did not.

Hatred of the mother is familiar, but the mother's hatred still comes as a surprise.

Boredom, not the will, is the mother of change. Necessity is the father.

Psychology keeps trying to vindicate human nature. History keeps undermining the effort.