Quotes by Norman Mailer

50 quotes found

Writer · American · 1923–2007

American writer (1923–2007)

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Common Themes

writing war boredom truth writers humor democracy mailer god norman-mailer prison fiction compliment trust lying excuse hatred authors insults boxing fighters training art artist violence activist common communism philosophy radical

“The private terror of the liberal spirit is invariably suicide not murder.”
— Norman Mailer
violence

“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.”
— Norman Mailer
writers writing

“Writer’s block is only a failure of the ego.”
— Norman Mailer
humor writing

“No, but why is Croft that way? Oh there are The Answers. He is that way because of the-corruption-of-the-society. He is that way because he is having problems of adjustment. It is because he is a T...”
— Norman Mailer
war

“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. ...”
— Norman Mailer
compliment trust

“How his hatred seethed in search of a justifiable excuse.”
— Norman Mailer
excuse hatred

“It is not uncommon for fighters’ camps to be gloomy. In heavy training, fighters live in dimensions of boredom others do not begin to contemplate. Fighters are supposed to. The boredom creates an i...”
— Norman Mailer
boredom boxing fighters training

“With the pride of the artist you must blow against the walls of every power that exists the small trumpet of your defiance.”
— Norman Mailer
art artist

“The private terror of the liberal spirit is invariably suicide not murder.”
— Norman Mailer
violence

“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.”
— Norman Mailer
writers writing