Quotessence
Home / Authors / Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac Quotes

Novelist

Filter quotes by topic

AllWisdomWorldThinkingKnowsDharma BumsWritingMenNightWayLifeJack KerouacWantBeat GenerationDreamGirlMindPeopleIfsRealizingStars

Famous Jack Kerouac Quotes

“You don't realize what a strain it is on the nerves to write or think-of-writing all day long, and to sleep full of nervous dreams, and to wake up not knowing who one is: this all stems from anxiety about finishing the book, about time 'growing short', etc., and the perpetual strain of invention.”

ThinkingWritingLongBookDreamRealizingSleepKnowingGrowingAnxietyWake UpInventionNervousEtcNervesPerpetualNot KnowingStemStrainFinishing
Book:Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac, 1947-1954
Create image

“One fast move or I'm gone,' I realize, gone the way of the last three years of drunken hopelessness which is a physical and spiritual and metaphysical hopelessness you can't learn in school no matter how many books on existentialism or pessimisn you read, or how many jugs of vision-producing Ayahuasca drink, or Mescaline take, or Peyote goop up with -”

WayYearsBookMatterSchoolLastsSpiritualMovingThreeRealizingVisionGoneDrinkExistentialismThree YearsMetaphysicalHopelessnessAyahuascaJugsPeyote
Author:Jack Kerouac
Create image

“Somebody had tipped the American continent like a pinball machine and all the goofballs had come rolling to LA in the southwest corner. I cried for all of us. There was no end to the American sadness and the American madness. Someday we'll all start laughing and roll on the ground when we realize how funny it's been.”

EndsRealizingLaughingSadnessMachinesMadnessCornersSomedayContinentsCriedRollingPinball
Book:On the Road: The Original Scroll: The Original Scroll
Create image

“Way far back in the beginning of the world was the whirlwind warning that we could all be blown away like chips and cry- Men with tired eyes realize it now, and wait to deform and decay- with maybe they have the power of love yet in their hearts just the same, I just don't know what that word means anymore- All I want is an ice cream cone”

KnowsMenWorldWayWantHeartMeanEyeWaitingRealizingCryTiredIceBoredWarningDecayCreamIce CreamChipsPower Of LoveWhirlwindBlown AwayConesIce Cream ConesTired Eyes
Author:Jack Kerouac
Create image

“Thinking of the stars night after night I begin to realize 'The stars are words' and all the innumerable worlds in the Milky Way are words, and so is this world too. And I realize that no matter where I am, whether in a little room full of thought, or in this endless universe of stars and mountains, it’s all in my mind.”

ThinkingWorldWayMindLittlesMatterNightUniverseStarsRealizingRoomsThis WorldMountainEndlessMilky Way
Book:Lonesome Traveler
Create image

“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
Create image

“The world you see is just a movie in your mind. Rocks dont see it. Bless and sit down. Forgive and forget. Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you’re already in heaven now. That’s the story. That’s the message. Nobody understands it, nobody listens, they’re all running around like chickens with heads cut off. I will try to teach it but it will be in vain, s’why I’ll end up in a shack praying and being cool and singing by my woodstove making pancakes.”

WorldTryingMindEndsStoriesRunningHeavenRealizingForgetTeachPracticeKindnessCuttingRocksPrayingMessagesSingingForgivingVainChickensBlessBeing CoolPancakesForgive And ForgetShack
Author:Jack Kerouac
Create image