Henry Miller Quotes

Author Image

Henry Miller

Profession : Author

Birth : December 26, 1891

We should read to give our souls a chance to luxuriate.

Henry Miller

We have two American flags always: one for the rich and one for the poor. When the rich fly it means that things are under control; when the poor fly it means danger, revolution, anarchy.

Henry Miller

Art is only a means to life, to the life more abundant. It is not in itself the life more abundant. It merely points the way, something which is overlooked not only by the public, but very often by the artist himself. In becoming an end it defeats itself.

Henry Miller

What distinguishes the majority of men from the few is their ability to act according to their beliefs.

Henry Miller

There is nothing strange about fear: no matter in what guise it presents itself it is something with which we are all so familiar that when a man appears who is without it we are at once enslaved by him.

Henry Miller

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.

Henry Miller

If I am against the condition of the world, it is not because I am a moralist - it is because I want to laugh more.

Henry Miller

The worst sin that can be committed against the artist is to take him at his word, to see in his work a fulfillment instead of an horizon.

Henry Miller

Life is 440 horsepower in a 2-cylinder engine.

Henry Miller

The real enemy can always be met and conquered, or won over. Real antagonism is based on love, a love which has not recognized itself.

Henry Miller

No man is great enough or wise enough for any of us to surrender our destiny to. The only way in which anyone can lead us is to restore to us the belief in our own guidance.

Henry Miller

Man has demonstrated that he is master of everything except his own nature.

Henry Miller

The ordinary man is involved in action, the hero acts. An immense difference.

Henry Miller

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.

Henry Miller

We live in the mind, in ideas, in fragments. We no longer drink in the wild outer music of the streets - we remember only.

Henry Miller

Actors die so loud.

Henry Miller

Why are we so full of restraint? Why do we not give in all directions? Is it fear of losing ourselves? Until we do lose ourselves there is no hope of finding ourselves.

Henry Miller

Life has to be given a meaning because of the obvious fact that it has no meaning.

Henry Miller

I have never been able to look upon America as young and vital but rather as prematurely old, as a fruit which rotted before it had a chance to ripen.

Henry Miller

One has to be a lowbrow, a bit of a murderer, to be a politician, ready and willing to see people sacrificed, slaughtered, for the sake of an idea, whether a good one or a bad one.

Henry Miller