Mailer Great Quotes & Sayings

I'm 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. — Norman Mailer

Since great writers communicate a vision of existence, one can't borrow their methods. The method is married to the vision. — Norman Mailer

It's absolutely philistine not to recognize what a great book 'An American Dream' is. Norman Mailer is his own worst enemy, and if you don't catch him in a defensive position, he'll admit it. I'd really like to help that man. — Germaine Greer

College was especially sweet because of the positive, hopeful atmosphere of a college campus. — Jerry Kramer

As I'd observed, it was clear that Rose was willing to do anything and fight anyone to protect her friend. I admired that - I admired that a lot - but it didn't stop me from striking out to block her. — Richelle Mead

Can any thing, my good Sir, be more painful to a friendly mind than a necessity of communicating disagreeable intelligence? Indeed, it is sometimes difficult to determine, whether the relater or the receiver of evil tidings is most to be pitied. — Fanny Burney

A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. — Anonymous

I'm not insane,' it's all he says.
'That's what we all say. — Tahereh Mafi

School did prepare a young person for life, but never in the ways parents expected. — Emma Jane Holloway

I must purchase this eunuch from You," she said to Ptah-nem-hotep, Who smiled agreeably. "Are they not delightful?" He asked, and looked at the dark bodies of these five slaves with the same love I had seen my great-grandfather give to a team of matched horses or twin bulls, and indeed, since the slave wore nothing, one could see not only their plump and muscular haunches, but the shiny stump where their testicles had been and this gave them a nice resemblance to geldings. — Norman Mailer

Great sex is apocalyptic. There is no such thing as great sex unless you have an apocalyptic moment. — Norman Mailer

that in modern life we overuse the "fight, flight, or freeze" response, because we respond to many situations as if they are life-threatening when they are not. As a result, our nervous systems don't have time to recover, because we are activating this response too frequently. — Linda Lantieri

I longed for funny stories about the sort of children who lived in my neighborhood. — Beverly Cleary

Great hope has no real footing unless one is willing to face into the doom that may also be on the way.
p.207 — Norman Mailer

I find it's more fun to write about something that you don't know completely and that you will discover on route. A dear friend of mine ... once said: 'The only time I know anything is when it comes to me at the point of my pen.' So I think that if you start to write about things that you know half well, that you're fascinated by, that you sense you have an appreciation of that others might not have, but you do have to acquire the knowledge as you go, you discover a great many things at the point of a pen. And it keeps the writing alive in itself in a way.
(in an interview with Martin Amis, 1991, see YouTube) — Norman Mailer

What's the use of being a writer if you can't irritate a great many people? — Norman Mailer

I read Mailer's Ancient Evenings with great interest because I was interested in ... the seven souls structure, which was very helpful to me in Western Lands. And also in Place of Dead Roads. So that's Mailer. — William S. Burroughs

A book of great beauty and manically exquisite insight with a wild and deadly humor ... The only American novelist who may conceivably be possessed by genius. — Norman Mailer

The compulsive talker must go through the herculean transformation of learning to quit or must become a great monologuist. — Norman Mailer

The fact that we've been a great democracy doesn't mean we will automatically keep being one if we keep waving the flag. — Norman Mailer

Chicago is the great American city, New York is one of the capitals of the world, and Los Angeles is a constellation of plastic; San Francisco is a lady — Norman Mailer

What I have most learned from my son is to respect him and to love him unconditionally. I believe that if parents respect their children and educate them with love and justice (and not just with words, but with their own behavior) the relationship with their children will be wonderful. Then parents will always be proud of their children, and children will always be proud of their parents. There will be peace in the family, and the home will be a sanctuary. — Miguel Angel Ruiz

There are many churches in my name and in the name of my apostles. The greatest and holiest is named after Peter; it is a place of great splendor in Rome. Nowhere can be found more gold. — Norman Mailer