What is not in the open street is false, derived, that is to say, literature. Henry Miller More Quotes by Henry Miller More Quotes From Henry Miller Whoever uses the spirit that is in him creatively is an artist. To make living itself an art, that is the goal. Henry Miller creativitygoalart I found that what I had desired all my life was not to live - if what others are doing is called living - but to express myself. Henry Miller ifsfound Chaos is the score upon which reality is written. Henry Miller order-and-chaosscorereality There is no salvation in becoming adapted to a world which is crazy. Henry Miller becomingcrazyworld Serenity is when you get above all this, when it doesn't matter what they think, say or want, but when you do as you are, and see God and Devil as one. Henry Miller serenitydevilthinking To love! To surrender absolutely, to prostrate oneself before the divine image, to die a thousand imaginary deaths, to annihilate every trace of self, to find the whole universe embodied and enshrined in the living image of another! Adolescent, we say. Rot! This is the germ of the future life, the seed which we hide away, which we bury deep within us, which we smother and stifle and do our utmost to destroy as we advance from one experience to another and flutter and flounder and lose our way. Henry Miller germsselfway Certainly paradise, whatever, wherever it be, contains flaws. (Paradisical flaws, if you like.) If it did not, it would be incapable of drawing the hearts of men or angels. Henry Miller angelheartmen She rises up out of a sea of faces and embraces me, embraces me passionately--- a thousand eyes, noses, fingers, legs, bottles, windows, purses, saucers all glaring at us an we in each other's arm oblivious. I sit down beside her and she talks--- a flood of talk. Wild consumptive notes of hysteria, perversion, leprosy. I hear not a word because she is beautiful and I love her and now I am happy and willing to die. Henry Miller eyeseabeautiful It's good to be just plain happy, it's a little better to know that you're happy; but to understand that you're happy and to know why and how and still be happy, be happy in the being and the knowing, well that is beyond happiness, that is bliss. Henry Miller laughterhappyhappiness I had to learn, as I soon did, that one must give up everything and not do anything else but write, that one must writer and write and write, even if everybody in the world advises you against it, even if nobody believes in you. Henry Miller giving-upwritingbelieve It is our destiny to live with the wrong as well as the right kind of citizens, and to learn from them, the wrong-minded ones, as much or more as from others. If we have not yet succeeded -after how many centuries?- in eliminating from life the elements which plague us perhaps we need to question life more closely. Perhaps our refusal to face reality is the only ill we suffer from, and all the rest but illusion and delusion. (p.26) Henry Miller destinysufferingreality New York! The white prisons, the sidewalks swarming with maggots, the breadlines, the opium joints that are built like palaces, the kikes that are there, the lepers, the thugs, and above all, the ennui, the monotony of faces, streets, legs, houses, skyscrapers, meals, posters, jobs, crimes, loves... A whole city erected over a hollow pit of nothingness. Meaningless. Absolute meaningless. Henry Miller thugnew-yorkjobs ...the wise man knows that every experience is to be viewed as a blessing. Henry Miller blessingwisemen We should not stop to reflect, compare, analyze, possess, but flow on and through, endlessly, like music. Henry Miller compareflowshould Life moves on, whether we act as cowards or heroes. Henry Miller herolifemoving The waking mind, you see, is the least serviceable in the arts. Henry Miller wake-upmindart In every man's heart there is anchored a little schooner. Henry Miller heartdiscoverymen The artist is the opposite of the politically minded individual, the opposite of the reformer, the opposite of the idealist. The artist does not tinker with the universe, he recreates it out of his own experience and understanding of life. Henry Miller understandingoppositesart Life is constantly providing us with new funds, new resources, even when we are reduced to immobility. In life's ledger there is no such thing as frozen assets. Henry Miller frozenassetslife I wanted to feel the blood running back into my veins, even at the cost of annihilation. I wanted to shake the stone and light out of my system. I wanted the dark fecundity of nature, the deep well of the womb, silence, or else the lapping of the black waters of death. I wanted to be that night which the remorseless eye illuminated, a night diapered with stars and trailing comets. To be of night so frighteningly silent, so utterly incomprehensible and eloquent at the same time. Never more to speak or to listen or to think. Henry Miller starseyerunning
