Henry Miller

United States
26 Dec 1891 // 7 Jun 1980
Writer

Quotes

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I am of the order whose purpose is not to teach the world a lesson but to explain that school is over.
For there is only one great adventure and that is inward toward the self, and for that, time nor space nor even deeds matter.

Tropic of Capricorn
And there is a time, glorious too in its own way, when one scarcely exists, when one is a complete void. I mean, when boredom seems the very stuff of life.
Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not understood.
The goal of life is not to possess power but to radiate it.
Even the idiot may have a message for us.
Example moves the world more than doctrine.
Until we accept the fact that life itself is founded in mystery, we shall learn nothing.
The most wonderful opportunity which life offers is to be human.
What I want is to open up. I want to know what's inside me. I want everybody to open up. I'm like an imbecile with a can opener in his hand, wondering where to begin - to open up the earth. I know that underneath the mess everything is marvelous. I'm sure of it.

Sexus
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays