Norman Mailer Quotes

A collection of quotes by Norman Mailer.

Norman Mailer was an acclaimed American novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright, and filmmaker. He was born on January 31, 1923, in Long Branch, New Jersey. Mailer grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Harvard University, where he studied aeronautical engineering before shifting his focus to writing.

Mailer's literary career began with the publication of his first novel, "The Naked and the Dead" in 1948, which drew heavily from his experiences as a World War II soldier. The novel's success established Mailer as an important voice in American literature. He went on to write numerous other novels, including "Barbary Shore" (1951), "The Deer Park" (1955), and "An American Dream" (1965), among others.

Apart from fiction, Mailer was known for his non-fiction works, which often delved into politics, culture, and the human condition. Notable examples include "The Armies of the Night" (1968), a Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the 1967 March on the Pentagon; "The Executioner's Song" (1979), which won him his second Pulitzer Prize for its portrayal of the life and crimes of Gary Gilmore; and "Oswald's Tale" (1995), a thorough examination of the life of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Throughout his career, Norman Mailer was celebrated for his distinctive writing style, a blend of powerful prose, introspection, and a deep exploration of masculinity. He was a bold and controversial figure, often challenging societal norms and engaging in public disputes. Mailer passed away on November 10, 2007, leaving behind a rich and influential body of work that continues to shape American literature.

It's not the sentiments of men which make history but their

It's not the sentiments of men which make history but their actions.

Comfortless was my religion, anxiety of the anxieties, for I

Comfortless was my religion, anxiety of the anxieties, for I believed God was not love, but courage. Love came only as a reward.

I am convinced the most unfortunate people are those who wou

I am convinced the most unfortunate people are those who would make an art of love. It sours other effort. Of all artists, they are certainly the most wretched.

Art Love People Effort

The only faithfulness people have is to emotions they're try

The only faithfulness people have is to emotions they're trying to recapture

There are four stages in a marriage. First there's the affai

There are four stages in a marriage. First there's the affair, then the marriage, then children and finally the fourth stage, without which you cannot know a woman, the divorce.

The highest prize in a world of men is the most beautiful wo

The highest prize in a world of men is the most beautiful woman available on your arm and living there in her heart loyal to you.

A modern democracy is a tyranny whose borders are undefined;

A modern democracy is a tyranny whose borders are undefined; one discovers how far one can go only by traveling in a straight line until one is stopped.

One's condition on marijuana is always existential. One can

One's condition on marijuana is always existential. One can feel the importance of each moment and how it is changing one. One feels one's being, one becomes aware of the enormous apparatus of nothingness -- the hum of a hi-fi set, the emptiness of a pointless interruption, one becomes aware of the war between each of us, how the nothingness in each of us seeks to attack the being of others, how our being in turn is attacked by the nothingness in others.

The desire for success lubricates secret prostitution's in t

The desire for success lubricates secret prostitution's in the soul.

In America all too few blows are struck into flesh. We kill

In America all too few blows are struck into flesh. We kill the spirit here, we are experts at that. We use psychic bullets and kill each other cell by cell.

Every moment of one's existence one is growing into more or

Every moment of one's existence one is growing into more or retreating into less. One is always living a little more or dying a little bit.

There is nothing safe about sex. There never will be.

There is nothing safe about sex. There never will be.

The horror of the Twentieth Century was the size of each new

The horror of the Twentieth Century was the size of each new event, and the paucity of its reverberation.

Twentieth Century

America is a hurricane, and the only people who do not hear

America is a hurricane, and the only people who do not hear the sound are those fortunate if incredibly stupid and smug White Protestants who live in the center, in the serene eye of the big wind.

Hip is the sophistication of the wise primitive in a giant j

Hip is the sophistication of the wise primitive in a giant jungle.

The difference between writing a book and being on televisio

The difference between writing a book and being on television is the difference between conceiving a child and having a baby made in a test tube.

Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.

Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.

Authors & Writing

The final purpose of art is to intensify, even, if necessary

The final purpose of art is to intensify, even, if necessary, to exacerbate, the moral consciousness of people.

I think it's bad to talk about one's present work, for it sp

I think it's bad to talk about one's present work, for it spoils something at the root of the creative act. It discharges the tension.

Authors & Writing

The sickness of our times for me has been just this damn thi

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.

Modern Modernism