436 Quotes by Norman Mailer

Indeed the early history of rocket design could be read as the simple desire to get the rocket to function long enough to give an opportunity to discover where the failure occurred. Most early debacles were so benighted that rocket engineers could have been forgiven for daubing the blood of a virgin goat on the orifice of the firing chamber.

It all comes down to who does the dishes.

Culture's worth huge, huge risks. Without culture we're all totalitarian beasts.

The contradictory remarks of politicians are forgotten; the more asinine predictions of pundits are buried with mercy.

We can never know for certain where our prayers are likely to go, nor from whom the answers will come. Just when we think we are at our nearest to God, we could be assisting the Devil.

There are days when I'll wake up and think, oh, I've really been something. You know, it won't be the same without me. And then there are days when I wake up and I say, 'Don't kid yourself. Your contribution was minimal. You changed very little. Everything you hated prospered'.

Simple narcissism gives the power of beasts to politicians, professional wrestlers and female movie stars.

Is one human? Or merely alive? Like a blade of grass equal to all existance in the moment it is torn? Yes. If pain is fundament, then a blade of grass can know all there is.

It's not a good idea to put your wife into a novel; not your latest wife anyway.