Obsession is the single most wasteful human activity, because with an obsession you keep coming back and back and back to the same question and never get an answer.

Quote by Norman Mailer

Topics: Norman Mailer Quotes

Every moment of one's existence one is growing into more or retreating into less. One...

Every moment of one's existence one is growing into more or retreating into less. One...

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

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

The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.

The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.

God like Us suffers the ambition to make a destiny more extraordinary than was conceived...

God like Us suffers the ambition to make a destiny more extraordinary than was conceived...

We are close to dead. There are faces and bodies like gorged maggots on the...

We are close to dead. There are faces and bodies like gorged maggots on the...

The natural role of twentieth-century man is anxiety.

The natural role of twentieth-century man is anxiety.

I hate everything which is not in myself.

I hate everything which is not in myself.

America is a hurricane, and the only people who do not hear the sound are...

America is a hurricane, and the only people who do not hear the sound are...

Ultimately a hero is a man who would argue with the gods, and so awakens...

Ultimately a hero is a man who would argue with the gods, and so awakens...

The highest prize in a world of men is the most beautiful woman available on...

The highest prize in a world of men is the most beautiful woman available on...

Growth, in some curious way, I suspect, depends on being always in motion just a...

Growth, in some curious way, I suspect, depends on being always in motion just a...

It's not a good idea to put your wife into a novel; not your latest...

It's not a good idea to put your wife into a novel; not your latest...

We can never know for certain where our prayers are likely to go, nor from...

We can never know for certain where our prayers are likely to go, nor from...

I'm hostile to men, I'm hostile to women, I'm hostile to cats, to poor cockroaches,...

I'm hostile to men, I'm hostile to women, I'm hostile to cats, to poor cockroaches,...

You don't know a woman until you have met her in court.

You don't know a woman until you have met her in court.

Once a newspaper touches a story, the facts are lost forever, even to the protagonists.

Once a newspaper touches a story, the facts are lost forever, even to the protagonists.

There's a subterranean impetus towards pornography so powerful that half the business world is juiced...

There's a subterranean impetus towards pornography so powerful that half the business world is juiced...

If a person is not talented enough to be a novelist, not smart enough to...

If a person is not talented enough to be a novelist, not smart enough to...

It's not the sentiments of men which make history but their actions.

It's not the sentiments of men which make history but their actions.

I think it's bad to talk about one's present work, for it spoils something at...

I think it's bad to talk about one's present work, for it spoils something at...