Mclaughlin Quotes & Sayings

The first-rate mind is always curious, compassionate, original, and pessimistic. — Mignon McLaughlin

We can never at any time absorb more love than we're ready for. — Mignon McLaughlin

It took man thousands of years to put words down on paper, and his lawyers still wish he wouldn't. — Mignon McLaughlin

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. — Mignon McLaughlin

Josh, what are you saying?"
He looks into my eyes and smiles. "I'm hoping you want to give us a chance when we get out of here. I know I don't deserve it, but I want to see where we can go with this. I still don't like the idea of being married and I'm not saying we need to divorce, but win or lose, I'm hoping for a chance. — Heidi McLaughlin

People keep telling us about their love affairs, when what we really want to know is how much money they make and how they manage on it. — Mignon McLaughlin

The two main hazards of psychoanalysis: that it might fail, and that if it succeeds, you'll never be able to forgive yourself for all those wasted years. — Mignon McLaughlin

We can never understand other people's motives, nor their furniture. — Mignon McLaughlin

Tragedy isn't getting something, or failing to get it; it's losing something you already have. — Mignon McLaughlin

I can't shake the feeling that all these conspiracy theorists are in on it. — Wynne McLaughlin

The neurotic circles ceaselessly above a fogged-in airport. — Mignon McLaughlin

We are never more self-righteous than when giving up what we should have shunned all along. — Mignon McLaughlin

Being back here - I'm suddenly confronting the enormity of that kind of commitment. And just how much you can fuck someone up if you half-ass it. — Emma McLaughlin

To talk easily with people, you must firmly believe that either you or they are interesting. And even then it's not easy. — Mignon McLaughlin

For the happiest life, days should be rigorously planned, nights left open to chance. — Mignon McLaughlin

I think it's that everyday training that is what's really important. — Keauna McLaughlin

We are keenly aware of the faults of our friends, but if they like us enough it doesn't matter. — Mignon McLaughlin

Every group feels strong once it has found a scapegoat. — Mignon McLaughlin

Welcome thy neighbor into thy fallout shelter. He'll come in handy if you run out of food. — Dean McLaughlin

I think just because you're a mom, it doesn't negate - if anything, you're probably more enhanced - that you're a woman trying to find your place in the world. — Emma McLaughlin

Rule number one: caffeine is your new best friend. Liquid optimism. — Emma McLaughlin

In a certain sense, these were lessons I learned by playing with Indian musicians. The rhythmic forms that they use are very complex, and very challenging. In order to play in fifteen, or eleven, or seven or even five, you have to have mastered that time in order to be able to be free with the music. — John McLaughlin

A Hallmark card with paragraphs about my beauty written by a stranger is vaguely depressing. — Emma McLaughlin

A hypochondriac is one who has a pill for everything except what ails him. — Mignon McLaughlin

Never will I or have I told fans that I love them, even with something as innocent as this. I've only loved one person in my life and those words are saved for my girl and now my son. — Heidi McLaughlin

The ceremonial oat tour."
She reaches in the shopping bag and takes out the milk bar with almonds, ripping it open.
"It must be so hard for guys in relationships - to have just one girlfriend completely devoted to taking care of all your whole-grain needs. I can see how at the first opportunity you'd just have to get out there and - sow. — Emma McLaughlin

We often pray to be better, when in truth we only want to feel better. — Mignon McLaughlin

Age is a slowing down of everything except fear. — Mignon McLaughlin

There are children born to be children, and others who must mark time till they can take their natural places as adults. — Mignon McLaughlin

When you let money speak for you, it drowns out anything else you meant to say. — Mignon McLaughlin

These [Asian] paintings I could get into and they made me wonder who I was. By contrast, Western painters tried to tell me who they were. — John McLaughlin

True remorse is never just a regret over consequences; it is a regret over motive. — Mignon McLaughlin

Music that touches the transcendental aspect of a human being is reserved for a marginal audience — John McLaughlin

The neurotic usually obeys his own Golden Rule: Hate thy neighbor as thyself. — Mignon McLaughlin

Grasp your opportunities, no matter how poor your health; nothing is worse for your health than boredom. — Mignon McLaughlin

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

It's my belief that all of the greatest tales ever told have been told in saloons. It was in such smoky, heathen-filled den of iniquity that I first heard the tale of the Bone Feud. As with all great tales, it was at its core one hundred percent true. In fact, much of it has long been a matter of historical record. But tales grow in the telling, and I therefore must apologize in advance for any inaccuracies, and beg your indulgence for any romanticized embellishments. I have decided to present the story here, just as it was told to me. I find it entirely too rich and too entertaining to alter, simply to curry favor with pedants and historians. — Wynne McLaughlin

The best work is done with the heart breaking, or overflowing. — Mignon McLaughlin

I don't do my best work while I'm in therapy. I'm too onto myself immediately seeing meanings in things and more likely to censor myself. I'd rather find images I don't understand. That's what generates the work. — Ellen McLaughlin

No matter how brilliantly an idea is stated, we will not really be moved unless we have already half thought of it ourselves. — Mignon McLaughlin

I've been hiding from God, and I'm appalled to find how easy it is. — Mignon McLaughlin

Every creatures stalks some other, and catches it, and is caught. — Mignon McLaughlin

If you're a gifted flirt, talking about the price of eggs will do as well as any other subject. — Mignon McLaughlin

I just realized at some point that I was hopelessly in love with the theater. I fought it for a long time because I thought theater was for, you know, insufferable actors. — Ellen McLaughlin

Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent. — Mignon McLaughlin

I'm an actor and a playwright, and I don't earn much. — Ellen McLaughlin

Says the rude child: "No, I won't do it." Says the courteous grown-up: "Yes, I won't do it. — Mignon McLaughlin

He starts whistling some tune that I'm sure is one of their hits. I suppose if Jimmy 'tweeted' all his loyal harems will be out in droves tonight. That means shitty tips and rude women. Yay, fun times for Jenna. — Heidi McLaughlin

Life marks us all down, so it's just as well that we start out by overpricing ourselves. — Mignon McLaughlin

One way is how he soars high above the clouds.
The second way is when the eagle sits on a tree branch
looking over the countryside.
The third way is when he grabs his prey on the prairie.
The fourth wya is when his protective eyes are keeping you safe at all times.
The fifth way is when the eagle lets us borrow his feathers,
The sixty way is when he talks to the rest of the sacred animals
so they can also keep you protected.
The seventh way his how the eagle sits waiting for your own flight to the sky.

(Tonia Scabby Face, student) — Timothy P. McLaughlin

God doesn't measure His bounty, but oh how we do! — Mignon McLaughlin

The Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Holiness in Jewish thought refers to energy and not an expression of personhood. Never in rabbinical commentaries is the Spirit considered as an entity separate from God, even though at times it is used as synonymous with God and interchangeable with Shekinah (majesty of God present among men and in nature: immanence). — Vince McLaughlin

Women polish the silver and water the plants and wait to be really needed. — Mignon McLaughlin

A woman asks little of love: only that she be able to feel like a heroine. — Mignon McLaughlin

It's all about perspective. The sinking of the Titanic was a miracle to the lobsters in the ship's kitchen. (Oct 4, 2011) — Wynne McLaughlin

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. — Mignon McLaughlin

Courage doesn't know what's around the corner, but goes around it anyway. — Mignon McLaughlin

I write in order to understand the images. Being what my agent ... somewhat ruefully calls a language playwright, is problematic because in production, you have to make the language lift off the page. But a good actor can turn it into human speech. I err sometimes toward having such a compound of images that if an actor lands heavily on each one, you never pull through to a larger idea. That's a problem for the audience. But I come to playwriting from the visual world - I used to be a painter. I also really love novels and that use of language. But it's tricky to ask that of the theatre. — Ellen McLaughlin

Keeping her wild-honey-and-chamomile-soaked hair from falling into her oatmeal-and-yogurt face mask — Emma McLaughlin

In youth we are plagued by desire; in later years, by the desire to feel desire. — Mignon McLaughlin

Why can't everything be as easy as walking into H&M and putting a week's worth of clothes on a credit card? — Emma McLaughlin

Many marriages are simply working partnerships between businessmen and housekeepers. — Mignon McLaughlin

There's only one person who needs a glass of water oftener than a small child tucked in for the night, and that's a writer sitting down to write. — Mignon McLaughlin

No one really listens to anyone else, and if you try it for a while you'll see why. — Mignon McLaughlin

The moment you start to talk about playing music, you destroy music. It cannot be talked about. It can only be played, enjoyed and listened to. — John McLaughlin

Acedia is not in every dictionary; just in every heart. — Mignon McLaughlin

Purple Rain comes on. It's the song we first danced to at homecoming. — Heidi McLaughlin

In any family, measles are less contagious than bad habits. — Mignon McLaughlin

In rural North Carolina, you can get lots of great advice about how to clean and quarter a deer carcass, but we didn't really have anyone to ask for video advice, so we just kept learning through trial and error. — Rhett McLaughlin

Before novels written by women were relegated to their own 'genre,' I was introduced to Jane Smiley by a dear professor who raised my awareness of what female authors were bringing to the table of contemporary fiction. — Emma McLaughlin

No woman wants to see herself too clearly. — Mignon McLaughlin

We can say all we want about equality, but we don't believe in it. We believe in superiority and inferiority. It's in our nature to rank ourselves into status groups. — Lauren McLaughlin

Of all second-class citizens, neurotics are the only ones who are so by choice. — Mignon McLaughlin

Few novels or plays could exist without at least one troublemaker in the group, and perhaps life couldn't either. — Mignon McLaughlin

Women are the right age for just a few years; men, for most of their lives. — Mignon McLaughlin

Nobody knows the trouble we've seen-but we keep trying to tell them. — Mignon McLaughlin

If you jot down every silly thought that pops into your mind, you will soon find out everything you most seriously believe. — Mignon McLaughlin

If you can tell anyone about it, it's not the worst thing you ever did. — Mignon McLaughlin

Minor vices lead to major ones, but minor virtues stay put. — Mignon McLaughlin

When threatened, the first thing a democracy gives up is democracy. — Mignon McLaughlin

The past is strapped to our backs. We do not have to see it; we can always feel it. — Mignon McLaughlin

The neurotic's strongest fantasy is that he has no fantasies. The real is very real to him, the unreal even more so. — Mignon McLaughlin

I'm never trying to preach to anybody with my music, but I'm aware of the universal nature of the human experience and I try to reach out and connect with people in that manner. — John McLaughlin

He's entitled not to love me, but he's not entitled to mess with my happy place. — Emma McLaughlin

Life is a mixed blessing, which we vainly try to unmix. — Mignon McLaughlin

Many things can make you miserable for weeks; few can bring you a whole day of happiness. — Mignon McLaughlin

My words will be my legacy, etched in heartfelt honesty upon the pages of time. — Callum McLaughlin

Someday our grandchildren will very likely look back at the individual, selfish control of the wealth of the world by a small elite the same way we view slavery today. — Corinne McLaughlin

Don't look for God where He is needed most; if you didn't bring Him there, He isn't there. — Mignon McLaughlin

We are all born brave, trusting and greedy, and most of us remain greedy. — Mignon McLaughlin

When we discuss those we love with those who do not love them, the end of love is near. — Mignon McLaughlin

Men never know how tired they are till their wives sit them down for a nice long talk. — Mignon McLaughlin

Every now and then you run across radiantly attractive people and you're delighted to find they adore you, till you realize that they adore just about everybody- and that's what's made them radiantly attractive. — Mignon McLaughlin

It must infuriate our children to see us always so much more forbearing with everybody else's. — Mignon McLaughlin

When you love someone, you just know. — Heidi McLaughlin

Surrounded by people who love life, you love it too; surrounded by people who don't, you don't. — Mignon McLaughlin

It's hard to feel middle-aged, because how can you tell how long you are going to live? — Mignon McLaughlin

If you must reread old love letters, better pick a room without mirrors. — Mignon McLaughlin

The fault we admit to is seldom the fault we have, but it has a certain relationship to it, a somewhat similar shape, like that of a sleeve to an arm. — Mignon McLaughlin

No one can understand love who has not experienced infatuation. And no one can understand infatuation, no matter how many times he has experienced it. — Mignon McLaughlin