"I had a microscopic eye for the blemish, for the grain of ugliness which to me constituted the sole beauty of the object."
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Quote collection
Henry Miller quotes (page 11 of 23)
441 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"A year ago, six months ago, I thought that I was an artist. I no longer think about it, I am. Everything that was literature has fallen from me. There are no more books to be written, thank God. This then? This is not a book. This is libel, slander, defamation of character. This is not a book, in the ordinary sense of the word. No, this is a prolonged insult, a gob of spit in the face of Art, a kick in the pants to God, Man, Destiny, Time, Love, Beauty . . . what you will."
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"Life, as it is called, is for most of us one long postponement."
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"Moralities, ethics, laws, customs, beliefs, doctrines - these are of trifling import. All that matters is that the miraculous become the norm."
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"The tragedy of it is that nobody sees the look of desperation on my face. Thousands and thousands of us, and we're passing one another without a look of recognition."
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"What have we to offer the world beside the superabundant loot which we recklessly plunder from the earth under the maniacal delusion that this insane activity represents progress and enlightenment?"
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"We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, only to discover what is already there."
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"Develop an Interest in Life as you see it."
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"I have made a silent compact with myself not to change a line of what I write. I am not interested in perfecting my thoughts, nor my actions."
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"Example moves the world more than doctrine. The great exemplars are the poets of action, and it makes little difference whether they be forces for good or forces for evil."
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"I'd rather sit down and write a letter than call someone up. I hate the telephone."
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"When one is trying to do something beyond his known powers it is useless to seek the approval of friends. Friends are at their best in moments of defeat."
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"When you know what men are capable of you marvel neither at their sublimity nor their baseness. There are no limits in either direction apparently."
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"The city is loveliest when the sweet death racket begins. Her own life lived in defiance of nature, her electricity, her frigidaires, her soundproof walls, the glint of lacquered nails, the plumes that wave across the corrugated sky. Here in the coffin depths grow the everlasting flowers sent by telegraph."
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"Instead of asking 'How much damage will the work in question bring about?' why not ask 'How much good? How much joy?'"
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"Sin, guilt, neurosis; they are one and the same, the fruit of the tree of knowledge."
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"To be joyous is to be a madman in a world of sad ghosts."
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"Part of the act of creating is in discovering your own kind. They are everywhere. But don't look for them in the wrong places."
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"The cancer of time is eating us away"
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"I found that what I had desired all my life was not to live - if what others are doing is called living - but to express myself."
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