Norman Mailer

"The only thing a man has got in this world is his honor, and his word is his bond."

"Being bisexual doubles your chances of getting a date on Saturday night."

"One cannot advise a man to abandon his career, but sometimes a man must abandon his career."

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places."

"Masculinity is not something given to you, but something you gain."

"The most important thing in life is not what happens to you, but what you make happen."

"Art is nature's means of achieving excellence."

"Writing is the invention of truth; an author must make the reader believe."

"If you're going to be a novelist, you must have a philosophy of life."

"The best way to understand any person is through their work."

"A man who believes in himself will do anything that is humanly possible."

"Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway."

"America is the country where you can die and nobody notices."

"The final purpose of work is not to make a living but to make a life."

"Talent is like a muscle; if you don't use it, you lose it."

"The ambitious man never has leisure because he is always looking ahead."

"One should never be ashamed of speaking the truth."

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that very existence is an act of rebellion."

"Some part of a writer never leaves his characters; he has to care about them."

"One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes."

"I would argue that the next Buddha will not take the form of a person. The next Buddha may be a committee."

"A writer has to be willing to fail publicly."

"The life of a man is his image of himself."

"If you're going to earn a living as a writer, you have to develop a thick skin."

"There's a very simple principle to writing: you tell the truth."

"The good writer is always dying to hear what people think."

"One cannot write about the past without understanding the present."

"Technology will never replace the human mind; it will only amplify it."

"Fear is the absence of faith."

"The artist is the one who invents new ways of seeing."