Mason Cooley Quotes
There is a line between a definite maybe and an indefinite yes.
Cooley, Mason. City Aphorisms. Pascal Press, 1984-1998.
This seemingly innocuous quotation became a cause celebre about freedom of speech and separation of church and state. Ms. Nootbaar, a brilliant, straight A student had a theme in her valedictory address of young people not being sure of their future aspirations. The audience laughed at the line and applauded her speech. However, her use of the word “hell” was considered a great sin by the school principle, David Smith. Smith refused to deliver Kaitlin’s diploma unless she apologized, which the young woman refused to do as it would be insincere and that lying would be a sin. Prague is in the middle of the “Bible Belt” where religious fundamentalists want the schools to enforce their view of acceptable behavior and using the word “hell” in that way was cursing and hence a sin. Nootbar was accepted at College anyway and the issue of her entitlement to the diploma went into the legal and political arena.
Mason Cooley was an American aphorist known for his witty aphorisms. One of these such aphorisms Cooley developed was "The time I kill is killing me." He was professor emeritus of French, speech and world literature at the College of Staten Island. He was also an assistant professor of English at Columbia University from 1959 to 1967 and an adjunct professor from 1980 to 1988. He received his B.A. from San Diego State University and his Ph.D. from Oxford.
