> “Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the’.” I found this quote scrawled in the margins of a secondhand copy of a novel during a brutal winter in Chicago. The faded blue ink pressed deeply into the paper, leaving physical indents on the yellowed page. At the time, I had just navigated a messy fallout with a colleague who habitually reinvented reality. This person constantly twisted basic facts to suit their ever-changing narrative. Consequently, the sheer venom of the handwritten statement felt less like a literary critique and more like absolute personal vindication. The raw anger captured in the sentence resonated perfectly with my own deep frustration. Therefore, I desperately needed to discover who possessed the audacity to deliver such a flawless, devastating insult. I spent the entire weekend digging through dusty literary archives and old magazine interviews. This obsessive search led me directly into one of the most vicious literary feuds of the twentieth century. The actual history behind the quote, however, proved even more dramatic than the words themselves. **The Earliest Known Appearance** Most people associate this famous insult with a legendary television broadcast. However, Mary McCarthy originally tested a slightly different version of the barb in print. [citation: Mary McCarthy first criticized Lillian Hellman’s honesty in a 1978 interview with Joan Dupont for the publication Paris Metro]. The renowned novelist and critic sat for an interview with the publication “Paris Metro” in early 1978. The interviewer, Joan Dupont, asked her a simple question about the famous playwright Lillian Hellman. McCarthy did not hold back her true feelings for a single second. She explicitly stated that she absolutely could not stand the celebrated playwright. Furthermore, she claimed every word Hellman wrote was false, including “and” and “but.” The interviewer carefully noted that McCarthy smiled broadly while delivering this crushing assessment. [image: A candid close-up photograph of an older woman with short silver hair caught mid-smile during what appears to be a formal interview or press event, her expression unexpectedly wide and gleeful — almost mischievous — as if she has just said something devastating and finds it privately delightful. The smile reaches her eyes, crow’s feet deepening at the corners, her chin slightly lifted with an air of satisfaction. Soft indoor lighting from a nearby window catches the left side of her face. A blurred microphone is barely visible at the edge of the frame. Shot with a long lens from slightly off to the side, as if captured by a photographer sitting across the room, the moment feeling entirely unposed and caught between breaths.] This initial version lacked the perfect rhythmic punch of the later, more famous quote. The word “false” feels slightly clunkier and less accusatory than the word “lie.” Additionally, the “Paris Metro” magazine did not reach a massive global audience. The publication, meanwhile, catered mostly to a niche group of expatriates and dedicated literary enthusiasts. As a result, the insult remained relatively obscure for another full year. McCarthy clearly knew she had struck rhetorical gold with her clever phrasing. She recognized the devastating potential of her own carefully chosen words. Therefore, she kept the insult loaded in her conversational arsenal. She simply waited patiently for a much larger stage to deploy it effectively. **Historical Context of the Feud** The intense animosity between these two literary giants did not materialize overnight. Both women dominated the mid-century American intellectual scene for several decades. They attended the same glamorous parties and knew the same influential New York editors. However, they held vastly different political and philosophical views regarding the world order. Hellman famously maintained highly sympathetic views toward Stalinist Russia for many years. She defended the Soviet regime even when undeniable evidence of horrific atrocities surfaced. In contrast, McCarthy actively condemned Soviet totalitarianism and fiercely supported Trotskyist circles. She viewed Hellman’s political stances as dangerously naive and morally bankrupt. . This deep ideological divide fueled their mutual disdain for one another. The paranoid political climate of the Cold War, consequently, intensified every single disagreement. [Source](https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt1287f6t) Additionally, their personalities clashed spectacularly on a fundamental, almost biological level. Hellman projected a tough, uncompromising, and highly defensive public persona. Meanwhile, McCarthy cultivated a reputation as a razor-sharp, patrician critic who prized absolute accuracy above all else. They occupied the exact same elite social circles but rarely interacted directly. Consequently, their bitter feud simmered beneath the surface for decades before boiling over publicly. **How the Quote Evolved** The insult finally achieved legendary status in October 1979 during a fateful television taping. McCarthy appeared on a popular public television talk show hosted by the legendary Dick Cavett. She originally agreed to appear on the program merely to promote her latest novel, “Cannibals and Missionaries.” During the taping, Cavett casually asked her to name some overrated contemporary authors. Naturally, McCarthy immediately offered Hellman as her primary and most glaring example. She called the playwright tremendously overrated and fundamentally dishonest in her writing. McCarthy also stated that Hellman truly belonged to the past, comparing her unfavorably to John Steinbeck. [image: A weathered, dog-eared paperback copy of a John Steinbeck novel lying open on a rough wooden surface, the yellowed pages fanned slightly, showing the aged cream paper texture with faint foxing spots and the subtle grain of old typeset ink absorbed into the fibers, soft natural window light raking across the surface to reveal every crease in the spine and the frayed fabric binding edge, shot in extreme close-up filling the entire frame with the tactile materiality of a mid-century literary object.] Cavett instantly sensed a great television moment and pushed for more specific details. When Cavett pressed her to explain what exactly was dishonest, McCarthy delivered the fatal blow. She confidently stated that absolutely everything Hellman wrote was a complete lie. Then, she recalled her previous magazine interview and delivered the significantly upgraded quote. She swapped “false” for “a lie” and brilliantly changed “but” to “the.” This minor editorial adjustment transformed a clever jab into an immortal literary execution. The word “the” represents the most common, innocuous word in the entire English language. Therefore, accusing someone of lying when they use it represents the ultimate, inescapable condemnation. The explosive broadcast aired in January 1980, and the cultural shockwave was immediate. **The Million Dollar Lawsuit** Hellman did not appreciate the television broadcast in the slightest degree. [Source](https://www.nytimes.com/1980/02/16/arts/hellman-sues-mccarthy-over-dick-cavett-show-remarks.html) In fact, she responded with overwhelming and immediate legal force against everyone involved. She watched the program, immediately contacted her legal team, and initiated a massive defamation lawsuit. . Hellman demanded enormous financial compensation for severe pain, suffering, and public humiliation. She claimed the broadcast completely destroyed her professional reputation and caused intense emotional distress. This aggressive legal action completely shocked the American publishing world. Writers routinely insulted each other in print and on national television broadcasts. However, they almost never sued each other over harsh literary criticism. A lawsuit of this unprecedented magnitude threatened the very concept of free literary discourse. Therefore, McCarthy had to mount a vigorous legal defense to protect herself and her peers. Her legal team began tearing through Hellman’s published memoirs with absolute forensic precision. They desperately needed to prove that Hellman actually fabricated her famous autobiographical stories. As a result, they focused heavily on a specific, highly celebrated story from Hellman’s bestselling book “Pentimento.” **Uncovering the Truth** To win the lawsuit, McCarthy’s allies investigated Hellman’s famous “Julia” narrative. In this thrilling story, Hellman claimed she bravely smuggled anti-Nazi funds into prewar Berlin. The gripping narrative portrayed Hellman as a fearless hero fighting directly against rising fascism. Hollywood even adapted this thrilling tale into a major motion picture starring Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave. The film won multiple Academy Awards and firmly cemented Hellman’s heroic international reputation. However, McCarthy’s investigators uncovered a completely different and highly damaging reality. . They discovered that Hellman likely appropriated the harrowing experiences of another woman entirely. Muriel Gardiner Buttinger actually lived the exact dangerous life Hellman described in her book. This shocking revelation severely damaged Hellman’s reputation as a reliable, trustworthy narrator. The literary community immediately began to question everything Hellman had ever published. Meanwhile, the complex lawsuit dragged slowly through the court system for four agonizing years. The mounting legal bills caused immense financial and emotional stress for the aging McCarthy. Ultimately, the court never reached a formal verdict on the defamation charges. Hellman passed away in 1984, and her estate quietly dropped the entire lawsuit. **Variations and Misattributions** People rarely misattribute this specific quote because the resulting lawsuit became so incredibly famous. The highly publicized legal battle permanently attached McCarthy’s name to the devastating insult. However, the exact wording sometimes shifts in casual conversation and online discussion forums. Some people swap the target, applying the insult to modern politicians or rival celebrities. They use the quote to describe anyone who exhibits pathological, unrelenting dishonesty. Additionally, writers occasionally misquote the conjunctions at the very end of the sentence. They might use “if” and “but” instead of the original “and” and “the.” [image: A wide environmental shot of a vast, weathered library archive room stretching deep into the distance, rows upon rows of towering wooden shelves packed with aging manuscripts and folders receding toward a far wall bathed in dim amber afternoon light filtering through tall narrow windows, the sheer scale of accumulated documents conveying the weight of language and record-keeping, dust motes drifting visibly in the light shafts, the floor worn smooth from decades of foot traffic, no people present, the overwhelming sense of a place where words are stored, altered, and debated across generations, shot with natural available light giving the scene a quiet, slightly melancholy documentary atmosphere.] Despite these minor variations, the core structure of the insult remains perfectly intact. The true brilliance of the quote lies in its absolute, unyielding totality. It does not merely accuse the target of stretching the truth or embellishing minor facts. Instead, it weaponizes the most basic, fundamental building blocks of the English language. By targeting simple words like “and” and “the,” McCarthy leaves the victim with absolutely nothing. Therefore, the insult strips the target of any foundational credibility whatsoever. **The Author’s Life and Views** Mary McCarthy built her entire literary career on brutal honesty and razor-sharp observation. She wrote acclaimed novels, essays, and memoirs that dissected her own life mercilessly. She never spared herself from the exact same harsh judgment she applied to others. Consequently, she demanded the same level of rigorous truth from her literary peers. She viewed Hellman’s self-aggrandizing memoirs as a profound betrayal of the writer’s core duty. For McCarthy, writing a memoir required strict, unflinching adherence to factual reality. [image: A middle-aged woman sits hunched over a cluttered wooden desk in a dimly lit study, her hand actively scratching out a line of handwritten text with a ballpoint pen, her other hand pressing flat against the page as if anchoring the truth to paper, stacks of personal journals and loose handwritten notes surrounding her, a single desk lamp casting warm directional light across her intense, focused expression, shot from a slightly elevated side angle that captures both the motion of her writing hand and the determined set of her jaw, natural late-afternoon light filtering through a half-drawn curtain behind her, the scene feeling raw and unposed like a documentary photograph taken mid-session.] McCarthy believed that facts mattered above all else in non-fiction writing. She insisted that a writer must never manipulate history for personal glory or financial gain. Therefore, her attack on Hellman represented much more than just petty jealousy or personal dislike. It served as a passionate, high-stakes defense of fundamental literary integrity. She risked her own financial ruin to stand firmly by her devastating assessment. Her absolute refusal to apologize demonstrated her unwavering commitment to her own words. **Cultural Impact and Modern Usage** Today, this quote stands as the absolute gold standard for intellectual insults. Writers and critics still study it for its perfect comedic timing and absolute ruthlessness. The elegant sentence structure delivers the punchline with maximum impact and zero wasted syllables. Furthermore, the quote remains highly relevant in our modern era of rampant misinformation. When public figures constantly bend reality, this quote provides a perfect template for calling out deceit. It perfectly captures the deep exhaustion we feel when dealing with habitual liars. You will often see journalists paraphrase this famous line when discussing dishonest politicians. For example, a political commentator might claim a candidate lies every single time they breathe. Social media users frequently adapt the phrasing to mock celebrities who fabricate their personal backstories. However, none of these modern adaptations ever quite match McCarthy’s original, surgical precision. The bitter feud between McCarthy and Hellman constantly reminds us that words possess incredible power. Ultimately, a perfectly constructed sentence can destroy a reputation, launch a million-dollar lawsuit, and echo through history forever.