Mignon McLaughlin (June 6, 1913 – December 20, 1983) was an American journalist and author.
In youth we are plagued by desire; in later years, by the desire to feel desire.
When first we fall in love, we feel that we know all there is to know about life, and perhaps we are right.
We always prefer war on our own terms to peace on someone else's.
The chief reason for drinking is the desire to behave in a certain way, and to be able to blame it on alcohol.
Neurotics dream of a good life, or a great suicide note.
My doctor is nice; every time I see him, I'm ashamed of what I think of doctors in general.
Forget about calories - everything makes thin people thinner, and fat people fatter.
I'm always there to tell people that their life is not that bad. I wish it was easy to follow that advice.
If only we could be old and sick while we're still young and healthy enough to put up with it!
Loneliness, insomnia, and change: the fear of these is even worse than the reality.
A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.
At the beginning of a love affair, not even the neurotic is neurotic.
We lavish on animals the love we are afraid to show to people. They might not return it; or worse, they might.
The know-nothings are, unfortunately, seldom the do-nothings.
The soul may sleep and the body still be happy, but only in youth.
An old racetrack joke reminds you that your program contains all the winners' names. I stare at my typewriter keys with the same thought.
Philosophy teaches a man that he can't take it with him; taxes teach him he can't leave it behind either.
You will turn over many a futile new leaf till you learn we must all write on scratched-out pages.
A woman asks little of love: only that she be able to feel like a heroine.
The neurotic thinks himself both Hamlet and Claudius, in a world that belongs to Polonius.