Who said “People named John and Mary never divorce. For better or for worse, in madness and in…”?

Verified

John Cheever. A published source records them saying or writing it.

SourceThe Sixties, 1966 entry.

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“People named John and Mary never divorce. For better or for worse, in madness and in saneness, they seem bound together for eternity by their rudimentary nomenclature. They may loathe and despise one another, quarrel, weep, and commit mayhem, but they are not free to divorce. Tom, Dick, and Harry can go to Reno on a whim, but nothing short of death can separate John and Mary.”
— John Cheever
VerifiedThe Sixties, 1966 entry. · evidenceDivorce

Cite this quote

For academic work, cite the original where you can: The Sixties, 1966 entry..

APA

Cheever, J. (n.d.). People named John and Mary never divorce. For better or for worse, in madness and in saneness, they seem bound together for eternity by their rudimentary nomenclature. They may loathe and despise one another, quarrel, weep, and commit mayhem, but they are not free to divorce. Tom, Dick, and Harry can go to Reno on a whim, but nothing short of death can separate John and Mary. [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/1704-people-named-john-and-mary-never-divorce-for/

MLA

Cheever, John. “People named John and Mary never divorce. For better or for worse, in madness and in saneness, they seem bound together for eternity by their rudimentary nomenclature. They may loathe and despise one another, quarrel, weep, and commit mayhem, but they are not free to divorce. Tom, Dick, and Harry can go to Reno on a whim, but nothing short of death can separate John and Mary.” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/1704-people-named-john-and-mary-never-divorce-for/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Cheever, John. “People named John and Mary never divorce. For better or for worse, in madness and in saneness, they seem bound together for eternity by their rudimentary nomenclature. They may loathe and despise one another, quarrel, weep, and commit mayhem, but they are not free to divorce. Tom, Dick, and Harry can go to Reno on a whim, but nothing short of death can separate John and Mary.” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/1704-people-named-john-and-mary-never-divorce-for/.

Related quotes

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— Denis Diderot
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More quotes by John Cheever

“Wisdom we know is the knowledge of good and evil -- not the strength to choose between the two.”
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“My veins are filled, once a week with a Neapolitan carpet cleaner distilled from the Adriatic and I am as bald as an egg. However I still get around and am mean to cats.”
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“A lonely man is a lonesome thing, a stone, a bone, a stick, a receptacle for Gilbey's gin, a stooped figure sitting at the edge of a hotel bed, heaving copious sighs like the autumn wind.”
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“The organizations of men, like men themselves, seem subject to deafness, near-sightedness, lameness, and involuntary cruelty. We seem tragically unable to help one another, to understand one another.”
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“The task of an American writer is not to describe the misgivings of a woman taken in adultery as she looks out of a window at the rain but to describe four hundred people under the lights reaching for a foul ball. This is ceremony.”
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All 9 John Cheever quotes →