America is no place for an artist: to be an artist is to be a moral leper, an economic misfit, a social liability. A corn-fed hog enjoys a better life than a creative writer, painter or musician. To be a rabbit is better still. Henry Miller More Quotes by Henry Miller More Quotes From Henry Miller And there is a time, glorious too in its own way, when one scarcely exists, when one is a complete void. I mean, when boredom seems the very stuff of life. Henry Miller boredomstuffmean Do not be duped by little duties. Do not be a chore man all your days. Henry Miller dutylittlesmen Until he [man] has become fully human, until he learns to conduct himself as a member of the earth, he will continue to create gods who will destroy him. The tragedy of Greece lies not in the destruction of a great culture but in the abortion of a great vision. Henry Miller abortionmenlying That we cannot rise equal to situations when we are in them — that is the tragedy of life. Henry Miller equalsituationtragedy All my good reading, you might say, was done in the toilet. There are passages in Ulysses which can be read only in the toilet - if one wants to extract the full flavor of their content. Henry Miller readingfunnybook The study of crime begins with the knowledge of oneself. Henry Miller mankindcrimestudy For some reason or other man looks for the miracle, and to accomplish it he will wade through blood. He will debauch himself with ideas, he will reduce himself to a shadow if for only one second of his life he can close his eyes to the hideousness of reality. Everything is endured-disgrace, humiliation, poverty, war, crime, ennui-in the belief that overnight something will occur, a miracle, which will render life tolerable. Henry Miller eyefearwar When spring comes to Paris the humblest mortal alive must feel that he dwells in paradise. Henry Miller parisspringtravel But you can’t put fight into a man’s guts if he hasn’t any fight in him. There are some of us so cowardly that you can’t ever make heroes of us, not even if you frighten us to death. We know too much, maybe. There are some of us who don’t live in the moment, who live a little ahead, or a little behind. Henry Miller fightingheromen The concert is a polite form of self induced torture. Henry Miller concertsformself Those interested in celestial navigation are advised to first obtain a rudimentary knowledge of integral calculus, phlebotomy, astral physics and related subjects. The use of liquor is strictly forbidden on interplanetary flights. Henry Miller navigationusefirsts A book is a part of life, a manifestation of life, just as much as a tree or a horse or a star. It obeys its own rhythms, its own laws, whether it be a novel, a play, or a diary. The deep, hidden rhythm of life is always there - that of the pulse, the heart beat. Henry Miller horsestarsreading I wanted a metamorphosis, a change to fish, to leviathan, to destroyer. I wanted the earth to open up, to swallow everything in one engulfing yawn. I wanted to see the city buried fathoms deep in the bosom of the sea. I wanted to sit in a cave and read by candlelight. I wanted that eye extinguished so that I might have a chance to know my own body, my own desires. I wanted to be alone for a thousand years in order to reflect on what I had seen and heard - and in order to forget. Henry Miller eyecitiesorder Los Angeles gives one the feeling of the future more strongly than any city I know of. A bad future, too, like something out of Fritz Lang's feeble imagination. Henry Miller imaginationcitiesgiving The piano bar is the gateway to the halls of masturbation. Henry Miller pianobarsromance The poem is the dream made flesh, in a two-fold sense: as work of art, and as life, which is a work of art. Henry Miller dreamtwoart Words, sentences, ideas, no matter how subtle or ingenious, the maddest flights of poetry, the most profound dreams, the most hallucinating visions, are but crude hieroglyphs chiseled in pain and sorrow to commemorate an event which is untransmissible. Henry Miller paindreamwriting The Frenchman is first and foremost a man. He is likeable often just because of his weaknesses, which are always thoroughly human, even if despicable. Henry Miller weaknessmenfirsts Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing. Henry Miller writingbookthinking If any man dared to translate all that is in his heart, to put down what is really his experience, what is truly his truth, I think then the world would go to smash, that it would be blown to smithereens and no god, no accident, no will could ever again assemble the pieces, the atoms, the indestructible elements that have gone to make up the world. Henry Miller heartmenthinking
