Hannah Arendt (2012)

Janet McTeer: Mary McCarthy

Photos 

Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  Mary McCarthy : But Hannah, how can you defend him?

  Hannah Arendt : But I'm not defending him. You can hardly forget that your husband is only my friend because of you. And I don't throw away my friends so quickly.

• Mary McCarthy : Every time I even write a sex scene, I have you horribly on my conscious - as if you're talking to my elbow saying: stop!

  Hannah Arendt : I have no problem with sex.

  Mary McCarthy : I'm afraid you'll think I'm an exhibitionist or something.

  Hannah Arendt : Well, you are.

• Mary McCarthy : [interrupting a German discussion]  Whatever you are saying, I agree with all of you.

  Hannah Arendt : Everybody, English now, please.

• Hannah Arendt : Nixon calculates. But, Kennedy is young and handsome and inspiring. And that's what matters when the ships are down.

  Mary McCarthy : Chips, Hannah. Chips. It's not ships.

• Mary McCarthy : Oh, Hemmingway was just an ambulance driver. Thomas, as a writer he was nothing more than the premature ejaculator of the 20th Century.

  Thomas Miller : Oh, you just hate him because he wrote like a real man.

• Mary McCarthy : Fill in the blank: Heidegger was the greatest - - in my entire life. Oh, come on. I won't tell anybody.

  Hannah Arendt : There are some things that are stronger than a single human being.

• Lionel Abel : Who does she think she is? Aristotle?

  Mary McCarthy : Unlike all of you, Hannah was actually forced into exile. She was held in a brutal detention camp. Isn't it admirable that she is the only one who can discuss this subject without beating her breast.

  Norman : And why do you think that is? Because she's smarter than people with feelings?

  Mary McCarthy : Well, in your case, Norman, being smarter is easy. She's more courageous than you are.