Mignon McLaughlin Quotes

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

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

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.

Broadway audiences are dependably square. "Well, I'll be a son of a bitch" always gets a laugh; spoken by a little old lady, it brings down the house.

Neurotics expect you to remember all the things that they tell you, and many that they don't.

Neurotics think of the past with resentment, and the future with dread; the present just doesn't exist.

The neurotic lies awake at night, composing letters to those he hates. He seldom thinks of dropping a line to those he loves.

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

The mark of the neurotic: to imagine that you're the only one who cares deeply for anything.

Neurotics are anxiety prone, accident prone, and often just prone.

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

Neurotics are always looking for something new to overdo.

The neurotic rule: when in doubt, go ahead and feel humiliated.

Humiliation is a vast country of imprecise boundaries. If you think you're there, you are.

A doctor recently described to me "benign positional vertigo": it means you get dizzy in certain positions, but you can get over it without necessarily changing the position. Change "vertigo" to "anxiety," and you've summed up the neurotic's plight.