Corso Quotes & Sayings

What do you know of the Knights?" he asked.

Fin shrugged. "I thought knights were only in children's stories until a few days ago."

Jeannot smiled. "A man could do worse than to live in the stories of a child. There is, perhaps, no better remembrance."

"Until the child grows up and finds out the stories aren't true. You might be knights, but I don't see any shining armor," Fin said.

Jeannot stopped near the gate of the auberge and faced her. "Each time a story is told, the details and accuracies and facts are winnowed away until all that remains is the heart of the tale. If there is truth at the heart of it, a tale may live forever. As a knight, there is no dragon to slay, no maiden to rescue, and no miraculous grail to uncover. A knight seeks the truth beneath these things, seeks the heart. We call this the corso. The path set before us. The race we must run. — A.S. Peterson

Spirit is Life. It flows thru the death of me endlessly like a river unafraid of becoming the sea. — Gregory Corso

The other guy I dug a lot was Burroughs because he was a smart man already; he learned it through the druggie pool - the street scene of an old aristocratic kind of man. — Gregory Corso

Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs were all my teachers, each one passing through the lobby of the Chelsea Hotel, my new university. — Patti Smith

If you have a choice of two things and can't decide, take both. — Gregory Corso

It is a great feeling to know that from a window I can go to books to cans of beer to past loves. And from these gather enough dream to sneak out a back door. — Gregory Corso

I remember the people I knew in prison; I was very fortunate to know them - they came from 1910, 1920, 1930. — Gregory Corso

But when the conquered spirit breaks free And indicates a new light Who'll take care of the cats? — Gregory Corso

I moved up over Lower East Side and I was adopted by eight foster parents; I lived all over New York City with these parents, man, till I was about ten years old. — Gregory Corso

Image intensifiers, which ultimately became "night vision" Fiber optics Supertenacity fibers Lasers Molecular alignment metallic alloys Integrated circuits and microminiaturization of logic boards HARP (High Altitude Research Project) Project Horizon (moon base) Portable atomic generators (ion propulsion drive) Irradiated food "Third brain" guidance systems (EBE headbands) Particle beams ("Star Wars" antimissile energy weapons) Electromagnetic propulsion systems Depleted uranium projectiles — Philip J. Corso

I feel capitol punishment is dooming U.S.A. — Gregory Corso

My background did not start with the East Side; it started with Greenwich Village, which is West Side. — Gregory Corso

It was a master surgeon, him that ampytated me - out of college and all - Latin by the bucket, and what not; but he was hanged like a dog, and sun-dried like the rest, at Corso Castle. — Robert Louis Stevenson

Hawaii doesn't win many games in the United States. — Lee Corso

Now, twenty years old, I come out and I go back to Greenwich Village. Now, of course, I'm a wealthy man. — Gregory Corso

I just trust people and they sense everything's gonna be alright. — Gregory Corso

The judge said I was a menace to society because I had put crime on a scientific basis. — Gregory Corso

Was it man's love to screw the sky with monuments span the bay with orange and silver bridges shuttling structure into structure incorruptible in this endless tie each age impassions be it in stone or steel either in echo or halfheard ruin — Gregory Corso

It's just that I see love as odd as wearing shoes
I never wanted to marry a girl who was like my mother
And Ingrid Bergman was always impossible — Gregory Corso

As I drive home, I picture other signs- one for everyone who has a secret. Bill Corso's would say, I CAN'T READ, BUT I CAN THROW A FOOTBALL. Mr. Shunk's would read, I WISH I COULD TOSS YOU ALL ON AN ISLAND BY YOURSELVES. Dad's would read, I HATE MYSELF FOR NO GOOD REASON.

My Idea grows. — A.S. King

I wouldn't want to play LSU right now even if I were the Indianapolis Colts. — Lee Corso

I feel I want to be wise with white hair in a tall library in a deep chair by a fireplace. — Gregory Corso

My father went into the armed service and I never saw my mother - I don't know what happened to her. — Gregory Corso

The fall of man stands a lie before Beethoven, a truth before Hitler. — Gregory Corso

They, that unnamed 'they,' they've knocked me down but I got up. I always get up-and I swear when I went down quite often I took the fall; nothing moves a mountain but itself. They, I've long ago named them me. — Gregory Corso

Now the Tombs, like the name says, are so horrible that they had to close it down. Today it doesn't exist and people go in the electric chair and all that. — Gregory Corso

Gregory Corso used to get really pissed when people called Bob Dylan a 'poet.' After writing poetry for a few years, I can understand that. — Steve Earle

I was what? - twelve years old - and I was thrown in the cells with these people, so I learned fast. — Gregory Corso

Standing on a street corner waiting for no one is power. — Gregory Corso

You see, I went to the sixth grade and that was the highest I ever went. — Gregory Corso

When that truth of alien intervention in our planet's affairs and our ongoing contact with an alien culture is finally revealed, it won't be frightening even though it will be a shock. — Philip J. Corso

O how terrible it must be for a young man
seated before a family and the family thinking
We never saw him before! He wants our Mary Lou!
After tea and homemade cookies they ask What do you do for a living — Gregory Corso

The lucky thing was that I was Italian; when the other Italians saw me fight back, they came to my defence. — Gregory Corso

I live in New York City, and one day many years ago I was with a poet, Gregory Corso, walking through Greenwich Village. He pointed to a doorway in an alley that he said led to a tunnel under Manhattan, a tunnel he'd use to run from the cops. I started learning about old Prohibition-era speakeasy tunnels under the city, for running whiskey. — Ann Nocenti

I think of New York City lost in stars
forgotten as a blue haired pet of childhood love
Tonight the night is full; — Gregory Corso

The true test of a person's character is how they treat the people in life that they don't need. — Lee Corso

A fat Reichian wife screeching over potatoes Get a job!
And five nose running brats in love with Batman — Gregory Corso

A woman from the audience asks: 'Why were there so few women among the Beat writers?' and [Gregory] Corso, suddenly utterly serious, leans forward and says: "There were women, they were there, I knew them, their families put them in institutions, they were given electric shock. In the '50s if you were male you could be a rebel, but if you were female your families had you locked up. — Stephen Scobie

Let there be no doubt. Alien technology harvested from the infamous saucer crash in Roswell, N.Mex., in July 1947 led directly to the development of the integrated circuit chip, laser and fiber optic technologies, Particle beams, Electromagnetic propulsion systems, Depleted uranium projectiles, Stealth capabilities, and many others! How do I know? I was in charge! A matter of public record I think the kids on this planet are wise to the truth, and I think we ought to give it to them. I think they deserve it. — Philip J. Corso

But if a girl were possible
as I am possible
then marriage would be possible ... — Gregory Corso

Agapa Know what that is? — Frank Corso

Should I get married? Should I be good? — Gregory Corso

he stopped and eyed Bill Corso
if you choose to just sit here like a bored jungle gorilla, you will have to write out this quote as many times as you can during the next hour. — A.S. King

I never did know exactly what was meant by the term "The Beats," but let's say that the original meeting, association, comradeship of Allen Ginsberg, myself, Michael McClure, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Philip Whalen, who's not here, Lew Welch, who's dead, Gregory Corso, for me, to a somewhat lesser extent (I never knew Gregory as well as the others) did embody a criticism and a vision which we shared in various ways, and then went our own ways for many years. — Gary Snyder

Creating a life worth living may be the most difficult work that you'll ever do. There will be some days that you won't feel up to the task but if you keep moving forward this will become easier. In the end, though, success can be yours and we'll have been cheerleading you all the way. — Debbie Corso

I turned away from him, the hot blood still coursing through my veins. I gripped the door handle, and it molded like dough into the form of my hand. Not even caring, I wrenched the handle free from the door without turning it. It cracked loose of the solid oak door, sending splinters showering to the floor. My hand tossed the now crumpled piece of metal behind me with unexpected force. It zoomed across the room and embedded itself into the wood paneling with the end my hand had crushed sticking out to see. — Michael Corso

I learned life were no dream
I learned truth deceived
Man is not God
Life is a century
Death an instant — Gregory Corso

I had the evidence that a crash did happen here ... Give this information to the young people of the world and this country ... They want it. Give it to them. Don't hide it and tell lies and make stories. They're not stupid ... It's their information. It doesn't belong to the Army or the Department of Defence. If it's classified, take the classification off and give it to them! — Philip J. Corso

Ah, if I were dictator I'd have poets throwing bombs! — Gregory Corso

My father took me back home, back to Greenwich Village, and he thought by taking me out of the orphanage he'd be out of the World War too. But no way - they got him anyway. He went in the Navy and then I lived on the streets. — Gregory Corso

When the police came to San Lorenzo they were fired upon by children and grandmothers with rocks, buckets of water, rotten eggs. There was more of the proletarian shopping, as it was called, that I'd seen on the Via del Corso. Jeans for the people. Cheese and bread and wine for the people. Umbrellas for the people, because rain fell and fell that week. — Rachel Kushner

Anyway, I lived on the streets and did pretty good until I got caught stealing, what was it? I kicked in a restaurant window, went in and took all the food that I wanted, and while coming out I was grabbed. — Gregory Corso

If you believe you're a poet, then you're saved.
— Gregory Corso