Philosophy Quote by Norman Mailer — Inspiring Words on Life, Love & Wisdom

“The only faithfulness people have is to emotions they're trying to recapture”

“Faction is that hybrid of documented fact and novelistic elaboration.”

“I am a great believer in the hereafter, in karma, in reincarnation. It does make sense. I believe that God is not just a law-giver, but a creative artist. The greatest of all. And what characterises artists is that they want to redo their work. Maybe it didn't come off perfectly, so they want to see it done again, and improved. Reincarnation is a way for God to improve his earlier works.”

“Writer’s block is only a failure of the ego.”

“I wonder, said the Lord I wonder if I know the answer any more.”

“Boredom slays more of existence than war.”

“It is when those who are not strong enough have made some moderate amount of progress that they fail and give up...”

“It is not enough to show how clever we are by showing how obscure everything is".”

“If you want to make progress, put up with being perceived as ignorant or naive in worldly matters, don't aspire to a reputation for sagacity. If you do impress others as somebody, don't altogether believe it. You have to realize, it isn't easy to keep your will in agreement with nature, as well as externals. Caring about the one inevitably means you are going to shortchange the other.”

“My reason for preferring the darkness is that in the dark you have to describe yourself. In the daylight other people describe you.”

“Nothing was ever in tune. People just blindly grabbed at whatever there was: communism, health foods, zen, surfing, ballet, hypnotism, group encounters, orgies, biking, herbs, Catholicism, weight-lifting, travel, withdrawal, vegetarianism, India, painting, writing, sculpting, composing, conducting, backpacking, yoga, copulating, gambling, drinking, hanging around, frozen yogurt, Beethoven, Back, Buddha, Christ, TM, H, carrot juice, suicide, handmade suits, jet travel, New York City, and then it all evaporated and fell apart. People had to find things to do while waiting to die. I guess it was nice to have a choice.”