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Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac Quotes

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Famous Jack Kerouac Quotes

“When the railroad trains moaned, and river-winds blew, bringing echoes through the vale, it was as if a wild hum of voices, the dear voices of everybody he had known, were crying: "Peter, Peter! Where are you going, Peter?" And a big soft gust of rain came down. He put up the collar of his jacket, and bowed his head, and hurried along.”

IfsBigsVoiceKnownCryWindRainRiversTrainDearPeterEchoesJacketsCollarsRailroads
Book:The Town and the City
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“If critics say your work stinks it's because they want it to stink and they can make it stink by scaring you into conformity with their comfortable little standards. Standards so low that they can no longer be considered "dangerous" but set in place in their compartmental understandings.”

IfsWantLittlesArtWisdomUnderstandingPowerfulDangerousComfortableLowsStandardsCriticsConformityStinkInspiring Writing
Book:The Unknown Kerouac: Rare, Unpublished, & Newly Translated Writings
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“galatea was a serious girl. she was pale and looked like tears all over. big ed passed his hand through his hair and said hello. she looked at him steadily. "where have you been? why did you do this to me?" and she gave dean a dirty look; she knew the score. dean paid absolutely no attention; what he wanted now was food; he asked jane if there was anything. the confusion began right there.”

IfsLooksSaidHandsBigsWantedGirlAttentionTearsSeriousHairPaidConfusionDirtyScorePaleHelloJaneDean
Author:Jack Kerouac
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“Happy. Just in my swim shorts, barefooted, wild-haired, in the red fire dark, singing, swigging wine, spitting, jumping, running—that's the way to live. All alone and free in the soft sands of the beach by the sigh of the sea out there, with the Ma-Wink fallopian virgin warm stars reflecting on the outer channel fluid belly waters. And if your cans are redhot and you can't hold them in your hands, just use good old railroad gloves, that's all.”

IfsWayUseHandsRunningHappinessStarsWaterDarkFireSeaSingingRedWineWarmBeachSandSwimVirginsSighBellyJumpingReflectingFluidGlovesWay To LiveAll AloneRailroadsShortsDharma Bums
Book:The Dharma Bums
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“Our radio plays rhythm and blues as we pass the joint back and forth in jutjawed silence both looking ahead with big private thoughts now so vast we can't communicate them anymore and if we tried it would take a million years and a billion books - Too late, too late, the history of everything we've seen together and separately has become a library in itself - The shelves pile higher - They're full of misty documents or documents of the Mist-.”

IfsYearsBookPlayBigsTogetherSilenceMillionsHigherLateLibraryRadioCommunicateBillionsRhythmToo LateDocumentsShelvesJointsMistBack And ForthMistyLooking AheadRhythm And BluesRadio Plays
Author:Jack Kerouac
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“a fool forgetting all the ideals and joys I knew before, in my recent years of drinking and disappointment, what does he care if he hasn't got any money: he doesn't need any money, all he needs is his rucksack with those little plastic bags of dried food and a good pair of shoes and off he goes and enjoys the privileges of a millionaire in surroundings like this.”

IfsNeedsYearsLittlesDoeCareJoyEnjoyForgetFoolIdealsDrinkingShoesPrivilegeDisappointmentBagsPairsPlasticSurroundingsMillionaireAnd OffPair Of ShoesPlastic BagsDoes He Care
Book:The Dharma Bums
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“Mankind will someday realize that we are actually in contact with the dead and with the other world, whatever it is; right now we could predict, if we only exerted enough mental will, what is going to happen within the next hundred years and be able to take steps to avoid all kinds of catastrophes. When a man dies he undergoes a mutation in his brain that we know nothing about now but which will be very clear someday if scientists get on the ball. The bastards right now are only interested in seeing if they can blow up the world.”

IfsKnowsMenWorldYearsKindEnoughHappensAbleDiesNextRealizingBrainStepsClearSeeingMankindRight NowHundredScientistBallsBlowContactAll KindsSomedayCatastropheOther WorldsMutation
Book:The Portable Jack Kerouac
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