Image: Artgal73, CC BY 2.5
44 quotes
German-American writer (1920–1994)
“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts while the stupid one are full of confidence".”
"Genius could be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way, or even to say a simple thing in a simpler way."
on Wisdom
"nothing can save you except writing. it keeps the walls from failing."
on Writing
"there is a loneliness in this world so great that you can see it in the slow movement of the hands of a clock"
on Life
"He asked, "What makes a man a writer?" "Well," I said, "it's simple. You either get it down on paper, or jump off a bridge."
"I carry death in my left pocket. Sometimes I take it out and talk to it: "Hello, baby, how you doing? When you coming for me? I'll be ready."
on Death
"Isolation is a gift. Everything else is just a test of your endurance. You will be alone with the Gods. Your nights will flame with fire."
on Philosophy
"Some people never go crazy, what truly horrible lives they must live."
"There is a blue bird in my heart that wants to get out."
on Hope
"What a weary time those years were -- to have the desire and the need to live but not the ability."
"We’ve each given the hours of our lives in dull rote jobs for other men’s profit, and have been asked to be grateful for doing that."
on Labor
"and beware those whoonly takeinstructions from theirGodfor they havefailed completely to live their ownlives."
on Faith
"Potential," I said, "doesn't mean a thing. You've got to do it. Almost every baby in a crib has more potential than I have."
on Motivation
"it's so easy to be a poetand so hard to be a man."
on Art
"we must bringour own lightto thedarkness."
on Resilience
"unless the sun inside you is burning your gut, don't do it"
"the tired sunsets and the tired people - it takes a lifetime to die and no time at all."
"That was all a man needed: hope. It was lack of hope that discouraged a man."
"regret is mostly caused by not havingdone anything."
"there is enough treachery , hatred violence absurdity in the average human being to supply any given army on any given day"
"being alone never felt right. sometimes it felt good, but it never felt right."
