Quotes from Mignon McLaughlin

Many of us go through life feeling as an actor might feel who does not like his part and does not believe in the play.

In life, as in restaurants, we swallow a lot of indigestible stuff just because it comes with the dinner.

I'm always there to tell people that their life is not that bad. I wish it was easy to follow that advice.

There are a handful of people whom money won't spoil, and we all count ourselves among them.

Youth is not enough. And love is not enough. And success is not enough. And, if we could achieve it, enough would not be enough.

The neurotic believes that life has meaning, but that his life hasn't.

Your money, or your life. We know what to do when a burglar makes this demand of us, but not when God does.

In the theater, as in life, we prefer a villain with a sense of humor to a hero without one.

Neurotics dream of a good life, or a great suicide note.

We are like people with short-term leases on summer cottages; we can never seem to make our provisions come out even with our stay.

Whether or not you love television, you've got to admit that it certainly loves itself.

If your children spend most of their time in other people's houses, you're lucky; if they all congregate at your house, you're blessed.

My doctor is nice; every time I see him, I'm ashamed of what I think of doctors in general.

Many of us are equal to life's emergencies who cannot bear its day-after-dayness.

I tell you this, and I tell you plain: What you have done, you will do again; You will bite your tongue, careful or not, Upon the already-bitten spot.

People find it hard to be both comic and serious, though life manages it easily enough.

The time to begin most things is ten years ago.

Most of us become parents long before we have stopped being children.

Your children tell you casually years later what it would have killed you with worry to know at the time.

There are whole years for which I hope I'll never be cross-examined, for I could not give an alibi.

It's impossible to be loyal to your family, your friends, your country, and your principles, all at the same time.

Fields can lie fallow but we can't; we have less time.

If the pain wanders, do not waste your time with doctors.

If you made a list of reasons why any couple got married, and another list of the reasons for their divorce, you'd have a hell of a lot of overlapping.