Quotessence
Home / Authors / Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer

Norman Mailer Quotes

Novelist

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenWritingLiteratureIfsPeopleThinkingWarWayLittlesWorldKnowsAmericaYearsBelieveBookDemocracyLongSexMeanTwo

Famous Norman Mailer Quotes

“I have always had this very strong, call it a feeling, call it a prejudice, call it a conviction ... that the mysteries are not easily available. You have to earn entrance into them. You didn't learn things for too little. You had to pay a price. And I felt that LSD was just blasting superhighways into the mysteries. And what I really didn't like about LSD is that people who were taking it were seeming to become less and less as they took it. They got emptier and more vapid.”

PeopleLittlesFeelingsStrongFeltPayMysteryPrejudiceConvictionAvailableVery StrongSeemingEntrancesLsdVapid
Author:Norman Mailer
Create image

“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
Create image

“I really am a pessimist. I've always felt that fascism is a more natural governmental condition than democracy. Democracy is a grace. It's something essentially splendid because it's not at all routine or automatic. Fascism goes back to our infancy and childhood, where we were always told how to live. We were told, Yes, you may do this; no, you may not do that. So the secret of fascism is that it has this appeal to people whose later lives are not satisfactory.”

PeopleMayFeltNaturalSecretDemocracyGraceChildhoodConditionsAppealsRoutineFascismSplendidPessimistInfancy
Author:Norman Mailer
Create image