Dharma Bums Quotes

• I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I could do anything I wanted.

  Jack Kerouac

  I Hate You, Glowing, Pages

  Jack Kerouac (1971). “The Dharma Bums”, p.138, Penguin

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• One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.

  Jack Kerouac

  Life, Wisdom, Writing

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

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• Finding Nirvana is like locating silence.

  Jack Kerouac

  Wisdom, Silence, Findings

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• colleges being nothing but grooming schools for the middle-class non-identity which usually finds its perfect expression on the outskirts of the campus in rows of well-to-do houses with lawns and television sets in each living room with everybody looking at the same thing and thinking the same thing at the same time while the Japhies of the world go prowling in the wilderness to hear the voice crying in the wilderness, to find the ecstacy of the stars, to find the dark mysterious secret of the origin of faceless wonderless crapulous civilization.

  Jack Kerouac

  Stars, School, Dark

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.39, Penguin

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• The closer you get to real matter, rock air fire and wood, boy, the more spiritual the world is.

  Jack Kerouac

  Spiritual, Wisdom, Real

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.206, Penguin

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• Dharma Bums refusing to subscribe to the general demand that they consume production and therefore have to work for the privilege of consuming, all that cramp they didn't really want anyway such as refrigerators, TV sets, cars, at least new fancy cars, certain hair oils and deodorants and general junk you finally always see a week later in the garbage anyway, all of them imprisoned in a system of work, produce, consume, work, produce, consume.

  Jack Kerouac

  Hair, Fancy Cars, Oil

  "The Dharma Bums". Book by Jack Kerouac, Ch. 13, 1958.

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• Better to sleep in an uncomfortable bed free, than sleep in a comfortable bed unfree.

  Jack Kerouac

  Wisdom, Sleep, Bed

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.123, Penguin

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• I felt like lying down by the side of the trail and remembering it all. The woods do that to you, they always look familiar, long lost, like the face of a long-dead relative, like an old dream, like a piece of forgotten song drifting across the water, most of all like golden eternities of past childhood or past manhood and all the living and the dying and the heartbreak that went on a million years ago and the clouds as they pass overhead seem to testify (by their own lonesome familiarity) to this feeling.

  Jack Kerouac

  Dream, Wisdom, Song

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

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• Happy. Just in my swim shorts, barefooted, wild-haired, in the red fire dark, singing, swigging wine, spitting, jumping, running—that's the way to live. All alone and free in the soft sands of the beach by the sigh of the sea out there, with the Ma-Wink fallopian virgin warm stars reflecting on the outer channel fluid belly waters. And if your cans are redhot and you can't hold them in your hands, just use good old railroad gloves, that's all.

  Jack Kerouac

  Happiness, Running, Beach

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.7, Penguin

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• I see a vision of a great rucksack revolution thousands or even millions of young Americans wandering around with rucksacks, going up to mountains to pray, making children laugh and old men glad, making young girls happy and old girls happier, all of 'em Zen Lunatics who go about writing poems that happen to appear in their heads for no reason and also by being kind and also by strange unexpected acts keep giving visions of eternal freedom to everybody and to all living creatures.

  Gary Snyder

  Girl, Children, Writing

  10 Copy quote

• Who can leap the world's ties and sit with me among white clouds?

  Jack Kerouac

  Clouds, White, Ties

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.20, Penguin

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• Pain or love or danger makes you real again.

  Jack Kerouac

  Wisdom, Pain, Real

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.96, Penguin

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• my karma was to be born in America where nobody has any fun or believes in anything, especially freedom.

  Jack Kerouac

  Karma, Fun, Believe

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.31, Penguin

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• I felt like lying down by the side of the trail and remembering it all

  Jack Kerouac

  Lying, Sides, Remember

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.61, Penguin

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• I have fallen in love with you, God. Take care of us all, one way or the other.

  Jack Kerouac

  Love You, Care, Way

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.244, Penguin

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• I have all the time in the world from life to life to do what is to do, to do what is done, to do the timeless doing.

  Jack Kerouac

  Done, World, Timeless

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.122, Penguin

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• Believe that the world is an ethereal flower, and ye live.

  Jack Kerouac

  Believe, Flower, World

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.137, 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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• I don't wanta hear all your word descriptions of words words words you made up all winter, man I wanta be enlightened by actions.

  Jack Kerouac

  Winter, Men, Action

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.169, Penguin

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• For Harry Potter I have all the time in the world.

  Philippa Gregory

  Potters, World, Harry Potter

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• I'd also gone through an entire year of celibacy based on my feeling that lust was the direct cause of birth which was the direct cause of suffering and death.

  Jack Kerouac

  Years, Suffering And Death, Feelings

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.29, Penguin

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• Happy. Just in my swim shorts, barefooted, wild-haired, in the red fire dark, singing, swigging wine, spitting, jumping, running - that's the way to live. All alone and free in the soft sands of the beach.

  Jack Kerouac

  Running, Beach, Wine

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.7, Penguin

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• One man practicing kindness in the wilderness is worth all the temples this world pulls.

  Jack Kerouac

  Wisdom, Peace, Kindness

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.134, Penguin

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• Let the mind beware, that though the flesh be bugged, the circumstances of existence are pretty glorious.

  Jack Kerouac

  Wisdom, Mind, Gorges

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

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• Down on the lake rosy reflections of celestial vapor appeared, and I said, "God, I love you" and looked to the sky and really meant it. "I have fallen in love with you, God. Take care of us all, one way or the other." To the children and the innocent it's all the same.

  Jack Kerouac

  God, Faith, Children

  Jack Kerouac (1986). “The Dharma Bums”, p.244, Penguin

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