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.
Author
Henry Miller
46 quotations
About Henry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blends character study, social criticism, philosophical reflection, stream of consciousness, explicit language, sex, surrealist free association, and mysticism. His most characteristic works of this kind are Tropic of Cancer, Black Spring, Tropic of Capricorn, and the trilogy The Rosy Crucifixion, which are based on …
Read on Wikipedia → Find books by Henry MillerNo 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 th…
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 …
Instead of asking 'How much damage will the work in question bring about?' why not ask 'How much good? How much joy?'
Our own physical body possesses a wisdom which we who inhabit the body lack. We give it orders which make no sense.
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 th…
The Teutons have been singing the swan song ever since they entered the ranks of history. They have always confounded truth with death.
What does it matter how one comes by the truth so long as one pounces upon it and lives by it?
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True strength lies in submission which permits one to dedicate his life, through devotion, to something beyond himself.
If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having.
Man has demonstrated that he is master of everything except his own nature.
Music is a beautiful opiate, if you don't take it too seriously.
We live in the mind, in ideas, in fragments. We no longer drink in the wild outer music of the streets - we remember only.
Develop interest in life as you see it in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.
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.
I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.
The only thing we never get enough of is love and the only thing we never give enough of is love.
The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we never give enough is love.
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.
The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.
The legal system is often a mystery, and we, its priests, preside over rituals baffling to everyday citizens.
The real leader has no need to lead - he is content to point the way.
In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance.
Sin, guilt, neurosis they are one and the same, the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
Los Angeles gives one the feeling of the future more strongly than any city I know of. A bad future, too, like something out of Fritz Lang's feeble imagination.