Nearly everything in the scheme of things works to dull a first-rate talent. But the worst probably is cowardice. Norman Mailer More Quotes by Norman Mailer More Quotes From Norman Mailer Writer’s block is only a failure of the ego. Norman Mailer writers-blockegoblock Masculinity is not something given to you, but something you gain. And you gain it by winning small battles with honor. Norman Mailer winningsportsmen A modern democracy is a tyranny whose borders are undefined; one discovers how far one can go only by traveling in a straight line until one is stopped. Norman Mailer democracies-havetyrantsfreedom No heart is so hard as the timid heart. Norman Mailer hardheart Love is simple to understand if you haven't got a mind soft and full of holes. It's a crutch, that's all, and there isn't any one of us that doesn't need a crutch. Norman Mailer simplemindlove Boredom slays more of existence than war. Norman Mailer boredomexistencewar Giving a camera to Diane Arbus is like putting a live grenade in the hands of a child. Norman Mailer photographychildrenhands Every one of my books had killed me a little more. Norman Mailer littlesbook Any war that requires the suspension of reason as a necessity for support is a bad war. Norman Mailer supportreasonwar Psychoanalysis and Zen, in my private psychic geometry, are equal to nicotine. They are anti-existential. Nicotine quarantines one out of existence. Norman Mailer quarantinepsychicsexistential Being a real writer means being able to do the work on a bad day. Norman Mailer realwritingmean I don't think life is absurd. I think we are all here for a huge purpose. I think we shrink from the immensity of the purpose we are here for. Norman Mailer purposeinspiringthinking 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 sentimentaleach-daylying I am not here only so that the blind might see, but to teach those who thought they could see that they are blind Norman Mailer teachblindmight The war between being and nothingness is the underlying illness of the twentieth century. Boredom slays more of existence than war. Norman Mailer boredomblessingwar There's that popular misconception of man as something between a brute and an angel. Actually man is in transit between brute and God. Norman Mailer brutesangelmen The art of the novel is to arrive at that artless point where your characters become more real than yourself. Norman Mailer realwritingart 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 rootswritingthinking God like Us suffers the ambition to make a destiny more extraordinary than was conceived for Him, yes God is like Me, only more so. Norman Mailer fatedestinyambition Once a newspaper touches a story, the facts are lost forever, even to the protagonists. Norman Mailer storiesforeverfacts
