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Norman Mailer

Norman Mailer Quotes

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Famous Norman Mailer Quotes

“When you know too much information and you acquire it too easily, you tend to either use it in disagreeable ways, out of vanity, or you tend to be indiscriminate about it. I mean, in the old days, it was tricky, you had to go to various encyclopedias, you had to go to the library, maybe spend a day there, whatever. But in the end, if you found something, it was really exciting. Now you hit a couple of buttons and you get some information. Which, by the way, is almost always presented in that same goddamn mediocre style that characterizes the Internet for me. It is slightly deadening.”

IfsKnowsWayMeanEndsUseFoundToo MuchStyleInformationCoupleInternetExcitingLibraryVariousVanityAcquireButtonsMediocreTrickyOld DaysDisagreeableEncyclopediaToo Much Information
Author:Norman Mailer
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“I don't trust compliments. I've been getting them for years. Sometimes I deserve them, sometimes I didn't. But generally when people give you compliments there's one of two things wrong with them. Either they're false, or what's worse is they're sincere. They really mean the compliment. And then they're offering you their loyalty. And I'm kind of a stingy... Well, I don't necessarily want to give all that loyalty back. So either way, let's skip the compliments.”

PeopleWayWantGivingYearsWellsKindMeanTwoSometimesDeserveLoyaltyTwo ThingsSincereComplimentOfferingReally MeanDon't TrustSkipStingy
Author:Norman Mailer
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“At bottom, I mean profoundly at bottom, the FBI has nothing to do with Communism, it has nothing to do with catching criminals, it has nothing to do with the Mafia, the syndicate, it has nothing to do with trust-busting, it has nothing to do with interstate commerce, it has nothing to do with anything but serving as a church for the mediocre. A high church for the true mediocre.”

MeanChurchBottomCriminalsCommunismServingCommerceMediocreCatchingMafiaDetectivesFbiE CommerceInterstateBustingSyndicate
Author:Norman Mailer
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“The sickness of our times for me has been just this damn thing that everything has been getting smaller and smaller and less and less important, that the romantic spirit has dried up, that there is no shame today. We're all getting so mean and small and petty and ridiculous, and we all live under the threat of extermination.”

MeanHas BeensImportantTodaySpiritModernShameThreatRidiculousDamnOur TimeSicknessPettyModernismDamn ThingsExtermination
Book:Conversations with Norman Mailer
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