The mark of mediocrity is to look for precedent. Norman Mailer More Quotes by Norman Mailer More Quotes From Norman Mailer Love was love, one could find it with anyone, one could find it anywhere. It was just that you could never keep it. Not unless you were ready to die for it. Norman Mailer ready-to-die ready dies What were the phenomena of the world today? If I knew little else, I knew the answer - war, and the preparations for new war. Norman Mailer preparation answers war Decade after decade, artists came to paint the light of Provincetown, and comparisons were made to the lagoons of Venice and the marshes of Holland, but then the summer ended and most of the painters left, and the long dingy undergarment of the gray New England winter, gray as the spirit of my mood, came down to visit. Norman Mailer artist summer winter We think of Marilyn who was every man's love affair with America. Marilyn Monroe who was blonde and beautiful and had a sweet little rinky-dink of a voice and all the cleanliness of all the clean American backyards. Norman Mailer beautiful sweet men I never saw love as luck, as that gift from the gods which put everything else in place, and allowed you to succeed. No, I saw love as reward. One could find it only after one's virtue, or one's courage, or self-sacrifice, or generosity, or loss, has succeeded in stirring the power of creation. Norman Mailer sacrifice loss love I am convinced the most unfortunate people are those who would make an art of love. It sours other effort. Of all artists, they are certainly the most wretched. Norman Mailer love people art Even an evil man can have principleshe can be true to his own evil, which is not always so easy. Norman Mailer principles evil men Women think of being a man as a gift. It is a duty. Even making love can be a duty. A man has always got to get it up, and love isn't always enough. Norman Mailer love-is men thinking Faction is that hybrid of documented fact and novelistic elaboration. Norman Mailer hybrid factions facts People move forward into the future out of the way they comprehend the past. When we don't understand something in our past, we are therefore crippled. Norman Mailer military war moving If God is all good, then He is not all powerful. If God is all powerful, then He is not all good. I am a disbeliever is the omnipotence of God because of the Holocaust. But for 35 years, I have been believing that He is doing the best he can. Norman Mailer powerful believe years Everything wrong with America led to the point where the country built that tower of Babel, which consequently had to be destroyed. And then came the next shock. We had to realize that the people that did this were brilliant. It showed that the ego we could hold up until September 10 was inadequate. Norman Mailer country america people Los Angeles is a constellation of plastic. Norman Mailer constellations plastic los-angeles I did like Robert Vavra's book not only for its so very good photographs but for the text as well. He's no ordinary fellow, obviously. Norman Mailer photograph ordinary book A nation fights well in proportion to the amount of men and materials it has. And the other equation is that the individual soldier in that army is a more effective soldier the poorer his standard of living has been in the past. Norman Mailer army fighting war ...the indispensable requirement for a good newspaperman - as eager to tell a lie as the truth. Norman Mailer requirements media lying Did a sense of shame ever reside in our Republican toadies? You can't stop people who are never embarrassed by themselves. Will's readiness to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse can be cited as world class sycophancy. Norman Mailer class history people Goldstein, you'd be a pretty good boy if you wasn't so chicken. Norman Mailer good-boy chickens boys We have an absolute right in a democracy to argue about a war. Norman Mailer democracy arguing war There`s a tendency for Americans, particularly the simpler you are, the more you believe in the president as the kind of person to be. Norman Mailer kind president believe