Norman Mailer Quotes - Page 5

Quotes about:

• The private terror of the liberal spirit is invariably suicide, not murder.

  Norman Mailer

  Suicide, Violence, Spirit

  Norman Mailer (1968). “The idol and the octopus: political writings, on the Kennedy and Johnson administrations”

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• Each day a few more lies eat into the seed with which we are born, little institutional lies from the print of newspapers, the shock waves of television, and the sentimental cheats of the movie screen.

  Norman Mailer

  Lying, Sentimental, Each Day

  1959 Advertisements for Myself,'First Advertisement for Myself'.

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• Along with all else, Sandman is a comic strip for intellectuals, and I say it's about time.

  Norman Mailer

  Sandman, Comic, Comic Strips

  "Dream come true: Neil Gaiman to create new Sandman 'prequel'" by Alison Flood, www.theguardian.com. July 13, 2012.

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• I guess all that's left is to love the fire.

  Norman Mailer

  Fire, Left

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• The women's movement is filled with tyrants, just as men's political movements are equally filled.

  Norman Mailer

  Men, Tyrants, Political

  "His Punch Is Better Than Ever". Interview with Bonnie Angelo, content.time.com. September 30, 1991.

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• Writing for a newspaper is like running a revolutionary war. You go to battle not when you are ready, but when action offers itself.

  Norman Mailer

  Running, War, Writing

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• To know what you want to say is not the best condition for writing a novel. Novels go happiest when you discover something you did not know you knew: an insight into one of your opaque characters, a metaphor that startles you... a truth... that used to elude you.

  Norman Mailer

  Writing, Character, Elude You

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• I think it's bad to talk about one's present work, for it spoils something at the root of the creative act. It discharges the tension.

  Norman Mailer

  Writing, Thinking, Roots

  Norman Mailer, Michael Lennon (1988). “Conversations with Norman Mailer”, p.86, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• There is one expanding horror in American life. It is that our long odyssey toward liberty, democracy and freedom-for-all may be achieved in such a way that utopia remains forever closed, and we live in freedom and hell, debased of style, not individual from one another, void of courage, our fear rationalized away.

  Norman Mailer

  Freedom, America, Long

  1966 Cannibals and Christians,'My Hope For America'.

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• The greater the power of any subjective state, the more total is a Romantic's assumption that everyone understands exactly what he is about to do, therefore waste not a moment by stopping to tell them.

  Norman Mailer

  Stopping, Waste, Assumption

  norman mailer (1968). “teh armies of the night”

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• As Kierkegaard was the first to suggest, we can never know where our prayers are likely to go nor from whom the answers will come. When we think we are nearest to God, we could be assisting the Devil.

  Norman Mailer

  Prayer, Thinking, Devil

  "Why Are We at War?".

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• The contradictory remarks of politicians are forgotten; the more asinine predictions of pundits are buried with mercy.

  Norman Mailer

  Wisdom, Forgotten, Politician

  Norman Mailer (1970). “Cannibals and Christians”

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• The nightmare in every democracy, the very nightmare, is if it gets worse and worse and worse, we could end up totalitarian.

  Norman Mailer

  Democracy, Nightmare, Ends

  Source: www.foxnews.com

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• I don't want to retire. I'm not that good at crossword puzzles

  Norman Mailer

  Want, Retiring, Crosswords

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• Insanity consists of building major structures upon foundations which do not exist.

  Norman Mailer

  Insanity, Foundation, Mental Illness

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• Tough guys don't dance. You had better believe it.

  Norman Mailer

  Inspirational, Dance, Believe

  Norman Mailer (2013). “Tough Guys Don't Dance: A Novel”, p.186, Random House

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• Culture's worth huge, huge risks. Without culture we're all totalitarian beasts.

  Norman Mailer

  Risk, Culture, Beast

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• I usually need a can of beer to prime me.

  Norman Mailer

  Beer, Needs, Prime

  Norman Mailer, Michael Lennon (1988). “Conversations with Norman Mailer”, p.80, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• You never do find out what makes you tick, and after a while it's unimportant.

  Norman Mailer

  Conformity, Tick, Unimportant

  Norman Mailer (2013). “The Naked and the Dead: 50th Anniversary Edition, With a New Introduction by the Author”, p.352, Henry Holt and Company

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• Existentialism is the kind of philosophy that makes for legendary children.

  Norman Mailer

  Children, Philosophy, Existentialism

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• The horror of the Twentieth Century was the size of each new event, and the paucity of its reverberation.

  Norman Mailer

  Events, Literature, Size

  A Fire on the Moon (1970) pt. 1, ch. 2

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• I'm a great believer in the hereafter, in karma, in reincarnation. It does make sense. I believe that God is not just a law-giver, but a creative artist. The greatest of all. And what characterises artists is that they want to redo their work. Maybe it didn't come off perfectly, so they want to see it done again, and improved. Reincarnation is a way for God to improve his earlier works.

  Norman Mailer

  Karma, Believe, Artist

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• Only another writer can know how much damage writing a novel can do to you. It's an unnatural activity to sit at a desk and squeeze words out of yourself.

  Norman Mailer

  Writing, Damage, Desks

  Norman Mailer (2003). “The Spooky Art: Thoughts on Writing”, p.125, Random House

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• Prevarication, like honesty, is reflexive, and soon becomes a sturdy habit, as reliable as truth.

  Norman Mailer

  Honesty, Habit, Sturdy

  Norman Mailer (2007). “The Castle in the Forest”

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• Boredom slays more of existence than war.

  Norman Mailer

  War, Boredom, Existence

  Norman Mailer, Michael Lennon (1988). “Conversations with Norman Mailer”, p.93, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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