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Ken Kesey

Ken Kesey Quotes

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Famous Ken Kesey Quotes

“No, that nurse ain't some kinda monster chicken, buddy, what she is is a ball-cutter. I've seen a thousand of 'em, old and young, men and women. Seen 'em all over the country and in the homes- people who try to make you weak so they can get you to toe the line, to follow their rules, to live like they want you to. And the best way to do this, to get you to knuckle under, is to weaken you by gettin' you where it hurts the worst.”

PeopleMenWayWantTryingCountryHomeYoungHurtLinesWorstThousandMen And WomenWeakBallsMonstersBest WayYoung ManEmsChickensNurseIt HurtsToesBuddyKnucklesCuckoosCutters
Book:One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
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“Time overlaps itself. A breath breathed from a passing breeze is not the whole wind, neither is it just the last of what has passed and the first of what will come, but is more--let me see--more like a single point plucked on a single strand of a vast spider web of winds, setting the whole scene atingle. That way; it overlaps ... as prehistoric ferns grow from bathtub planters.”

WayFirstsWholeLastsTimeGrowsWindSceneLet MeBreathsSettingPassingPassingsSettingsBreezeSpidersStrandsBathtubsPrehistoricFernsSpider WebPlanters
Book:Sometimes a Great Notion
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“I believe that with the advent of acid, we discovered a new way to think, and it has to do with piecing together new thoughts in your mind. Why is it that people think it's so evil ? What is it about it that scares people so deeply, even the guy that invented it, what is it ? Because they're afraid that there's more to reality than they have confronted. That there are doors that they're afraid to go in, and they don't want us to go in there either, because if we go in we might learn something that they don't know. And that makes us a little out of their control.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWayWantMindBelieveLittlesRealityMightTogetherGuyEvilI BelieveDoorsDrugScareNew WaysWant UAcidPsychedelicNew ThoughtAdventLsd
Author:Ken Kesey
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“This world belongs to the strong, my friend! The ritual of our existence is based on the strong getting stronger by devouring the weak. We must face up to this. No more than right that it should be this way. We must learn to accept it as a law of the natural world. The rabbits accept their role in the ritual and recognize the wolf as the strong. In defense, the rabbit becomes sly and frightened and elusive and he digs holes and hides when the wolf is about. And he endures, he goes on. He knows his place. He most certainly doesn't challenge the wolf to combat. Now, would that be wise? Would it?”

KnowsWorldWayShouldFacesLawStrongNaturalChallengesExistenceAcceptingRolesWiseThis WorldGoes OnMy FriendsWeakStrongerEndureDefenseHolesFrightenedRitualCombatRabbitsNatural WorldFlewBeing WiseElusiveSlyDevouringGetting StrongerRabbit Holes
Book:One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
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“But the more I read... after awhile... I begin to find they were all writing about the same thing, this same dull old here-today-gone-tomorrow scene... Shakespeare, Milton, Matthew Arnold, even Baudelaire, even this cat whoever he was that wrote Beowulf... the same scene for the same reasons and to the same end, whether it was Dante with his pit or Baudelaire with his pot... the same dull old scene...”

WritingEndsReasonTodayGoneTomorrowSceneQuietCatDullPotPitsMatthewMiltonBaudelaireHere Today Gone Tomorrow
Author:Ken Kesey
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