436 Quotes by Norman Mailer

Tough guys don’t dance. You had better believe it.

All you need do is nod. I already know nine parts in ten of what he will say, but it is like fishing. Be patient, and you will get what you came for.

Mediocrities flock to any movement which will indulge their self-pity and their self-righteousness, for without a Movement the mediocrity is on the slide into terminal melancholia.

Great hope has no real footing unless one is willing to face into the doom that may also be on the way. p.207.

Love was here today and left us dry did we deserve Him?

Mailer’s Law: A thing either gets better or it costs more to run it the way it was.

Certain kinds of honor could not be lost without demanding that one consecrate oneself thereafter – no matter how unsuited and unprepared – to a life of revenge. I.

He was full of love – for himself, first, and his prowess – such a fine power at his age. Then, he felt a degree of love for her –.

You can indulge your righteous rage but the things it comes out of are pretty cheap. The trick is to make yourself an instrument of your own policy. Whether you like it or not, that’s the highest effectiveness man has achieved.