We all live in suspense, from day to day, from hour to hour; in other words, we are the hero of our own story.
Mary MccarthyRead
Liberty, as it is conceived by current opinion, has nothing inherent about it; it is a sort of gift or trust bestowed on the individual by the state pending good behavior.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that liberty is not an inherent right but rather something granted by the state based on an individual's behavior.
Mary McCarthy argues that contemporary interpretations of liberty suggest its contingent nature, implying that individuals do not possess inherent rights to freedom. Instead, freedom is perceived as a privilege granted by the government, which can be revoked based on societal norms and expectations of good behavior, reflecting the complex relationship between individual rights and state authority.
Themes
LibertyFreedomStateTrustBehavior
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about civil rights at a university event, this quote can be used to illustrate the fragility of liberties.
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If one means by style the voice, the irreducible and always recognizable and alive thing, then of course style is really everything.
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To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.
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