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Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac Quotes

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Famous Jack Kerouac Quotes

“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Book:The Unknown Kerouac: Rare, Unpublished, & Newly Translated Writings
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“The one thing that we yearn for in our living days, that makes us sigh and groan and undergo sweet nauseas of all kinds, is the remembrance of some lost bliss that was probably experienced in the womb and can only be reproduced (though we hate to admit it) in death. But who wants to die?”

WantKindWisdomHateDiesLostOne ThingSweetAll KindsBlissRemembranceSighWombWanting To DieNausea
Book:On the Road: The Original Scroll: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“"What do you want out of life?" I asked, and I used to ask that all the time of girls. "I don't know," she said. "Just wait on tables and try to get along." She yawned. I put my hand over her mouth and told her not to yawn. I tried to tell her how excited I was about life and the things we could do together; saying that, and planning to leave Denver in two days. She turned away wearily. We lay on our backs, looking at the ceiling and wondering what God had wrought when He made life so sad.”

KnowsWantTryingMadeSaidTwoHandsTogetherUsedGirlAsksWaitingWonderMouthsTablesLaysExcitedPlanningCeilingsTwo DaysSo SadDenver
Author:Jack Kerouac
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“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
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“Dharma Bums refusing to subscribe to the general demand that they consume production and therefore have to work for the privilege of consuming, all that cramp they didn't really want anyway such as refrigerators, TV sets, cars, at least new fancy cars, certain hair oils and deodorants and general junk you finally always see a week later in the garbage anyway, all of them imprisoned in a system of work, produce, consume, work, produce, consume.”

WantCertainWeekCarProduceTvsHairDemandPrivilegeProductionsOilFancyGarbageConsumingJunkDharmaRefrigeratorsCrampsDeodorantDharma BumsFancy Cars
Author:Jack Kerouac
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“Sometimes I’d get mad because things didn’t work out so well, I’d spoil a flapjack, or slip in the snowfield while getting water, or one time my shovel went sailing down into the gorge, and I’d be so mad I’d want to bite the mountaintops and would come in the shack and kick the cupboard and hurt my toe. But let the mind beware, though the flesh be bugged, the circumstances of existence are pretty glorious.”

WantMindWellsSometimesWaterHurtExistenceCircumstancesMadWork OutFleshKicksGloriousBitesOne TimeSlipsToesSailingSpoilShovelsCupboardsShackGorgesFlapjacks
Book:The Dharma Bums
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“I have the right ideas, but my words are too... complicated. I need to simplify them, so that people won't get lost in the dark when they see and hear them. I want them to shine like beacons of light in a world of overly complicated darkness. One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”

PeopleWorldWantNeedsWritingIdeasLightLostDarkSimpleDarknessOne DayShiningComplicatedSongwritingSimplifyRight WordsBeaconsRight IdeasBeacons Of Light
Author:Jack Kerouac
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