Quotessence
Home / Authors / Ken Kesey
Ken Kesey

Ken Kesey Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllLiteratureOne Flew Over The Cuckoo's NestThinkingIfsMenCuckoosKnowsPeopleWayMcmurphyFlewWorldFirstsGuyMightLaughingLooksWantWritingLong

Famous Ken Kesey Quotes

“You, and in fact quite a lot of your generation, have in some way been exiled from that particular sanctuary. It's become almost impossible for someone to "go mad" in the classical sense. At one time people conveniently "went mad" and were never heard from again. Like a character in a romantic novel. But now you are too hip to yourself on a psychological level. You all are too intimate with too many of the symptoms of insanity to be caught completely off your guard.”

PeopleWayCharacterFactsLevelsNovelImpossibleGenerationsHeardParticularMadCaughtPsychologicalHipsInsanityIntimateOne TimeSymptomsSanctuary
Author:Ken Kesey
Create image

“I lay in bed the night before the fishing trip and thought it over, about my being deaf, about the years of not letting on I heard what was said, and I wonder if I can ever act any other way again. But I remembered one thing: it wasn't me that started acting deaf; it was people that first started acting like I was too dumb to hear or see or say anything at all.”

PeopleIfsWayYearsFirstsSaidI CanNightActingWonderOne ThingHeardBedLaysDumbRememberedFishingSay AnythingDeaf
Author:Ken Kesey
Create image

“The flock gets sight of a spot of blood on some chicken and they all go to peckin' at it, see, till they rip the chicken to shreds, blood and bones and feathers. But usually a couple of the flock gets spotted in the fracas, then it's their turn. And a few more gets spots and gets pecked to death, and more and more. Oh, a peckin' party can wipe out the whole flock in a matter of a few hours, buddy, I seen it. A mighty awesome sight. The only way to prevent it—with chickens—is to clip blinders on them. So's they can't see.”

WayMatterWholeTurnsHoursPartyBloodCoupleSightBonesSpotsChickensFeathersRipBuddyWipeFlewFlocksClipCuckoosBlindersOne Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Book:One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (SparkNotes Literature Guide)
Create image

“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
Create image

“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
Create image

“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
Create image

“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
Create image