Norman Mailer Quotes

We didn’t win the Cold War, we were just a big bank that bankrupted a smaller bank because we had an arms race that wiped the Russians out. Norman Mailer

At bottom, I mean profoundly at bottom, the FBI has nothing to do with Communism, it has nothing to do with catching criminals, it has nothing to do with the Mafia, the syndicate, it has nothing to do with trust-busting, it has nothing to do with interstate commerce, it has nothing to do with anything but serving as a church for the mediocre. A high church for the true mediocre. Norman Mailer

Revolutions are the periods of history when individuals count most. Norman Mailer

There are four stages in a marriage. First there’s the affair, then the marriage, then children and finally the fourth stage, without which you cannot know a woman, the divorce. Norman Mailer

The difference between writing a book and being on television is the difference between conceiving a child and having a baby made in a test tube. Norman Mailer

Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing. Norman Mailer

The final purpose of art is to intensify, even, if necessary, to exacerbate, the moral consciousness of people. Norman Mailer

So we think of Marilyn who was every man’s love affair with America. Marilyn Monroe who was blonde and beautiful and had a sweet little rinky-dink of a voice and all the cleanliness of all the clean American backyards. Norman Mailer

The horror of the Twentieth Century was the size of each new event, and the paucity of its reverberation. Norman Mailer

Sentimentality is the emotional promiscuity of those who have no sentiment. Norman Mailer