I certainly do have this feeling of affection for the absolute sense of intellectual freedom that exists as a live nerve, a live wire, right through the center of American life. Norman Mailer More Quotes by Norman Mailer More Quotes From Norman Mailer Chicago is the great American city, New York is one of the capitals of the world, and Los Angeles is a constellation of plastic; San Francisco is a lady Norman Mailer san-francisco cities new-york Short-term amnesia is not the worst affliction if you have an Irish flair for the sauce. Norman Mailer flair affliction sauce The difference between writing a book and being on television is the difference between conceiving a child and having a baby made in a test tube. Norman Mailer baby book children One thing I've learned in all these years is not to make love when you really don't feel it; there's probably nothing worse you can do to yourself than that. Norman Mailer making-love sex years The ultimate tendency of liberalism is vegetarianism. Norman Mailer liberalism tendencies vegetarianism Somewhere, something incredible happened in history - the wrong guys won. Norman Mailer wrong-guy incredibles guy One of the reasons the English got through all their falls and the loss of their empire, all their disasters, their strikes, their difficulties, their wars through the years was they had Shakespeare to fall back on. And they speak well in England. Norman Mailer loss war fall Simple narcissism gives the power of beasts to politicians, professional wrestlers and female movie stars. Norman Mailer stars simple giving The contradictory remarks of politicians are forgotten; the more asinine predictions of pundits are buried with mercy. Norman Mailer politician wisdom forgotten To be married to a good woman is to live with tender surprise. Norman Mailer good-woman married women Indeed the early history of rocket design could be read as the simple desire to get the rocket to function long enough to give an opportunity to discover where the failure occurred. Most early debacles were so benighted that rocket engineers could have been forgiven for daubing the blood of a virgin goat on the orifice of the firing chamber. Norman Mailer simple opportunity blood Horror films do not prepare us for the hours lost in searching after one clear thought. Norman Mailer hours horror film In America all too few blows are struck into flesh. We kill the spirit here, we are experts at that. We use psychic bullets and kill each other cell by cell. Norman Mailer cells blow america I was thinking that surgeons had to be the happiest people on earth. To cut people up and get paid for it-that's happiness, I told myself. Norman Mailer cutting happiness thinking People who are greedy have extraordinary capacities for waste-they must, they take in too much. Norman Mailer greed too-much people Insanity consists of building major structures upon foundations which do not exist. Norman Mailer mental-illness foundation insanity You can't be a serious writer of fiction unless you believe the story you are telling. Norman Mailer writing believe fiction We are in love with the word. We are proud of it. The word precedes the formation of the state. The word comes to us from every avatar of early human existence. As writers, we are obliged more than others to keep our lives attached to the primitive power of the word. From India, out of the Vedas, we still hear: On the spoken word, all the gods depend, all beasts and men; in the world live all creatures...The word is the name of the divine world. Norman Mailer vedas names men What is there about polarity that is matter becoming more complex? Norman Mailer becoming matter opposites The only journey of knowledge is from the depth of one being to the heart of another. Norman Mailer journey heart knowledge