Jack Kerouac Quotes - Page 18

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and never really thought I'd amount to anything. It was precisely what I wanted the whole world to think; then I could sneak in, if that's what they wanted, and sneak out again, which I did.

Jack Kerouac

Thinking, Sneak In, World

Jack Kerouac (2007). “On the Road: The Original Scroll: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.152, Penguin

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Way far back in the beginning of the world was the whirlwind warning that we could all be blown away like chips and cry- Men with tired eyes realize it now, and wait to deform and decay- with maybe they have the power of love yet in their hearts just the same, I just don't know what that word means anymore- All I want is an ice cream cone

Jack Kerouac

Eye, Tired, Heart

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And you have been forever, and will be forever, and all the worrisome smashings of your foot on innocent cupboard doors it was only the Void pretending to be a man pretending not to know the Void.

Jack Kerouac

Men, Doors, Feet

Jack Kerouac (1995). “Desolation Angels”, Riverhead Trade (Paperbacks)

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and I shudder sometimes to think of all that stellar mystery of how she IS going to get me in a future lifetime, wow - And I seriously do believe that will be my salvation, too. A long way to go.

Jack Kerouac

Believe, Thinking, Long

Jack Kerouac (2012). “Big Sur (Annotated)”, p.109, BookBaby

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He had never felt anything like that before - yet somehow he knew that from now on he would always feel like that, always, and something caught at his throat as he realized what a strange sad adventure life might get to be, strange and sad and still much more beautiful and amazing than he could ever have imagined because it was so really, strangely sad.

Jack Kerouac

Beautiful, Adventure, Might

Jack Kerouac (1959). “The Town and the City”

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And I realize the unbearable anguish of insanity: how uninformed people can be thinking insane people are "happy," O God, in fact it was Irwin Garden once warned me not to think the madhouses are full of "happy nuts." (p. 200)

Jack Kerouac

Garden, Thinking, Nuts

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You were my last chance' she's said but don't all women say that? - But can it be by 'last chance' she doesn't mean mere marriage but some profoundly sad realization of something in me she really needs to go on living, at least that impression coming across anyway on the force of all the gloom we've shared -

Jack Kerouac

Mean, Needs, Realization

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The bus roared through Indiana cornfields that night; the moon illuminated the ghostly gathered husks; it was almost Halloween. I made the acquaintance of a girl and we necked all the way to Indianapolis. She was nearsighted. When we got off to eat I had to lead her by the hand to the lunch counter. She bought my meals; my sandwiches were all gone. In exchange I told her long stories.

Jack Kerouac

Girl, Halloween, Moon

Jack Kerouac (2007). “On the Road: The Original Scroll: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.197, Penguin

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I'd rather be thin than famous but I'm fat paste that in your broadway show

Jack Kerouac

Broadway, Fats, Shows

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"What do you want out of life?" I asked, and I used to ask that all the time of girls. "I don't know," she said. "Just wait on tables and try to get along." She yawned. I put my hand over her mouth and told her not to yawn. I tried to tell her how excited I was about life and the things we could do together; saying that, and planning to leave Denver in two days. She turned away wearily. We lay on our backs, looking at the ceiling and wondering what God had wrought when He made life so sad.

Jack Kerouac

Girl, Hands, Two

"On the Road". Book by Jack Kerouac, 1957.

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I clearly saw the skeleton underneath all this show of personality what is left of a man and all his pride but bones?

Jack Kerouac

Pride, Men, Skeletons

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Last night I walked clear down to Times Square & just as I arrived I suddenly realized I was a ghost - it was my ghost walking on the sidewalk.

Jack Kerouac

Night, Squares, Lasts

Jack Kerouac (1976). “On the Road”, p.130, Penguin

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And there in the blue air I saw for the first time, far off, the great snowy tops of the Rocky Mountains. I had to get to Denver at once.

Jack Kerouac

Air, Blue, Mountain

Jack Kerouac (2007). “On the Road”, Viking Press

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I want to marry a [guy], so i can rest my soul with [him] till we both get old. This can't go on all the time-- all this franticness and jumping around. We've got to go someplace, find something.

Jack Kerouac

Jumping, Guy, Soul

Jack Kerouac (2007). “On the Road”, Viking Press

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Things are so hard to figure out when you live from day to day in this feverish and silly world.

Jack Kerouac

Wisdom, Silly, World

Jack Kerouac (2007). “On the Road: The Original Scroll: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.285, Penguin

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Life was dense, dark, ancient. They watched Dean, serious and insane at his raving wheel, with eyes of hawks. All had their hands outstretched. They had come down from the back mountains and higher places to hold forth their hands for something they thought civilization could offer, and they never dreamed the sadness and the poor broken delusion of it.

Jack Kerouac

Sadness, Eye, Dark

"On the Road".

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She spoke of evenings in the country making popcorn on the porch. Once this would have gladdened my heart but because her heart was not glad when she said it I knew there was nothing in it but the idea of what one should do.

Jack Kerouac

Country, Heart, Ideas

Jack Kerouac (2007). “Road Novels 1957-1960”

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In those days he really didn't know what he was talking about; that is to say, he was a young jailkid all hung-up on the wonderful possibilities of becoming a real intellectual, and he liked to talk in the tone and using the words, but in a jumbled way, that he had heard from 'real intellectuals.

Jack Kerouac

Real, Talking, Intellectual

Jack Kerouac (2007). “On the Road: The Original Scroll: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.117, Penguin

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Eager for bread and love.

Jack Kerouac

Love, Age, And Love

Jack Kerouac (2007). “On the Road”, Viking Press

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Whenever spring comes to New York I can't stand the suggestion of the land that come blowing over the river from New Jersey and I've got to go. So I went.

Jack Kerouac

New York, Spring, Land

Jack Kerouac (2007). “On the Road: The Original Scroll: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.317, Penguin

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And then we’ll all go off to sweet life, ‘cause now is the time and we all know time!

Jack Kerouac

Sweet, Causes, Sweet Life

Jack Kerouac (1976). “On the Road”, p.92, Penguin

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Mankind is like dogs, not gods - as long as you don't get mad they'll bite you - but stay mad and you'll never be bitten. Dogs don't respect humility and sorrow.

Jack Kerouac

Dog, Humility, Long

"Some of the Dharma". Book by Jack Kerouac, 1997.

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And I said, 'That last thing is what you can't get, Carlo. Nobody can get to that last thing. We keep on living in hopes of catching it once and for all.

Jack Kerouac

Honesty, Lasts, Said

Jack Kerouac (2011). “On the Road”, p.79, Penguin UK

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I swore I'd be in Chicago tomorrow, and made sure of that, taking a bus to Chicago, spending most of my money, and didn't give a damn, just as long as I'd be in Chicago tomorrow.

Jack Kerouac

Cities, Long, Giving

Jack Kerouac (2007). “On the Road: The Original Scroll: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.121, Penguin

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Aw I don't wanta go to no such thing, I just wanta drink in alleys.'... But you'll miss all that, just for some old wine.' There's wisdom in wine, goddam it!' I yelled. 'Have a shot!

Jack Kerouac

Wine, Missing, Drink

Jack Kerouac (1971). “The Dharma Bums”, p.168, Penguin

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Jack Kerouac

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Born: March 12, 1922
Died: October 21, 1969
Occupation: Novelist
Cite this Page: Citation

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