Quotes
“From the crucible of such inner turmoil come the various metals, soft or brittle, flawed or pure, precious or common, that determine the good runners, the great runners, and perhaps the former runners; for those who cannot deal with successfully (or evade successfully) the consequences of their singular objective will simply fade away from it all and go on to less arduous pursuits. There has probably never been one yet who has done so, however, without leaving a part of himself there in the quiet tiled solace of the early afternoon locker room, knotting his loathsome smelling laces for yet another, jesus god, ten-miler with the boys. Once a runner…”
-John L. Parker, Once a Runner
“The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.”
-John Steinbeck, Cannery Row
“… the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!'”
-Jack Kerouac, On the Road
“Strange there are fools who kid themselves they’ll live again. Who would want to, who has really lived already?”
-Xavier Herbert, Capricornia
“There is a different beauty… All rock, ice, harsh light, air. Almost everything, including the air, is so cold it cuts. There’s no green there, usually, above Base Camp, not even a lichen. Nothing alive but the climbers and the rare raven. No trees, no leaves, no grass… almost nothing soft… Just rock and ice and snow and sky. This is infinitely more gentle. More human.”
-Dan Simmons, The Abominable
“A coward judges all he sees by what he is.”
Stephen King, The Dark Tower
“The primary goal of the government is to protect the minority of the opulent from the majority.”
-Noam Chomsky, Propaganda and the control of the public mind