Quotes from John McCarthy

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

My opinion is that he's a swindler and you're a sucker.

Hard distinctions make bad philosophy.

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

Language is froth on the surface of thought.

A declining institution often experiences survival of the unfittest.

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

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

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'.

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.

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.

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.

Suicidal terrorists may have short shelf lives.

Never abandon a theory that explains something until you have a theory that explains more.

Honor among thieves is the ancestor of all honor.

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.

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

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.

The slogan was 'Don't trust anyone over thirty'. Sixty years later the slogan became, 'Don't trust anyone over ninety'.

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.

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

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.

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