Henry Miller Quotes

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Henry Miller

Profession : Author

Birth : December 26, 1891

In the beginning was the Word. Man acts it out. He is the act, not the actor.

Henry Miller

The great work must inevitably be obscure, except to the very few, to those who like the author himself are initiated into the mysteries. Communication then is secondary: it is perpetuation which is important. For this only one good reader is necessary.

Henry Miller

Whatever needs to be maintained through force is doomed.

Henry Miller

Life, as it is called, is for most of us one long postponement.

Henry Miller

In the attempt to defeat death man has been inevitably obliged to defeat life, for the two are inextricably related. Life moves on to death, and to deny one is to deny the other.

Henry Miller

Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.

Henry Miller

What is not in the open street is false, derived, that is to say, literature.

Henry Miller

Example moves the world more than doctrine. The great exemplars are the poets of action, and it makes little difference whether they be forces for good or forces for evil.

Henry Miller

The Teutons have been singing the swan song ever since they entered the ranks of history. They have always confounded truth with death.

Henry Miller

The concert is a polite form of self induced torture.

Henry Miller

Until we accept the fact that life itself is founded in mystery, we shall learn nothing.

Henry Miller

One of the reasons why so few of us ever act, instead of react, is because we are continually stifling our deepest impulses.

Henry Miller

I see America spreading disaster. I see America as a black curse upon the world. I see a long night settling in and that mushroom which has poisoned the world withering at the roots.

Henry Miller

Every man with a bellyful of the classics is an enemy to the human race.

Henry Miller

The man who is forever disturbed about the condition of humanity either has no problems of his own or has refused to face them.

Henry Miller

Moralities, ethics, laws, customs, beliefs, doctrines - these are of trifling import. All that matters is that the miraculous become the norm.

Henry Miller

No matter how vast, how total, the failure of man here on earth, the work of man will be resumed elsewhere. War leaders talk of resuming operations on this front and that, but man's front embraces the whole universe.

Henry Miller

Plots and character don't make life. Life is here and now, anytime you say the word, anytime you let her rip.

Henry Miller

If men cease to believe that they will one day become gods then they will surely become worms.

Henry Miller

It isn't the oceans which cut us off from the world - it's the American way of looking at things.

Henry Miller