Quotessence
Home / Authors / Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer

Norman Mailer Quotes

Novelist

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenWritingLiteratureIfsPeopleThinkingWarWayLittlesWorldKnowsAmericaYearsBelieveBookDemocracyLongSexMeanTwo

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
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

“It's very bad to write a novel by act of will. I can do a book of nonfiction work that way - just sign the contract and do the book because, provided the topic has some meaning for me, I know I can do it. But a novel is different. A novel is more like falling in love. You don't say, 'I'm going to fall in love next Tuesday, I'm going to begin my novel.' The novel has to come to you. It has to feel just like love.”

KnowsWayFeelsWritingI CanBookDifferentFallNextCan DoNovelLove YouFalling In LoveContractsNonfictionTopicsTuesdayI Can Do ItLike LoveFeels Just
Author:Norman Mailer
Create image

“America has an almost obscene infatuation with itself. Has there ever been a big, powerful country that is as patriotic as America? And patriotic in the tinniest way, with so much flag waving? You'd really think we were some poor little republic, and that if one person lost his religion for one hour, the whole thing would crumble. America is the real religion in this country.”

IfsThinkingWayLittlesPersonsRealCountryWholeBigsAmericaLostHoursPoorPowerfulPatriotismPatrioticRepublicFlagsInfatuationOne HourObsceneFlag WavingPowerful Countries
Author:Norman Mailer
Create image

“I'm a great believer in the hereafter, in karma, in reincarnation. It does make sense. I believe that God is not just a law-giver, but a creative artist. The greatest of all. And what characterises artists is that they want to redo their work. Maybe it didn't come off perfectly, so they want to see it done again, and improved. Reincarnation is a way for God to improve his earlier works.”

WayWantBelieveDoeDoneLawArtistI BelieveCreativeBelieverKarmaMake SenseReincarnationGiverHereafterCreative ArtCreative ArtistsRedos
Author:Norman Mailer
Create image