Henry Miller Quotes

The man who looks for security, even in the mind, is like a man who would chop off his limbs in order to have artificial ones which will give him no pain or trouble.

Art is only a means to life, to the life more abundant. It is not in itself the life more abundant. It merely points the way, something which is overlooked not only by the public, but very often by the artist himself. In becoming an end it defeats itself.

Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.

Any genuine philosophy leads to action and from action back again to wonder, to the enduring fact of mystery.

Whatever I do is done out of sheer joy; I drop my fruits like a ripe tree. What the general reader or the critic makes of them is not my concern.

In the beginning was the Word. Man acts it out. He is the act, not the actor.

The real enemy can always be met and conquered, or won over. Real antagonism is based on love, a love which has not recognized itself.

Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.

Until we accept the fact that life itself is founded in mystery, we shall learn nothing.

I have never been able to look upon America as young and vital but rather as prematurely old, as a fruit which rotted before it had a chance to ripen.

We should read to give our souls a chance to luxuriate.

Imagination is the voice of daring. If there is anything Godlike about God it is that. He dared to imagine everything.

True strength lies in submission which permits one to dedicate his life, through devotion, to something beyond himself.

The real leader has no need to lead - he is content to point the way.

Every man has his own destiny: the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him.

If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.

Whatever there be of progress in life comes not through adaptation but through daring.

The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.

I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.

Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.

We have two American flags always: one for the rich and one for the poor. When the rich fly it means that things are under control; when the poor fly it means danger, revolution, anarchy.

An artist is always alone - if he is an artist. No, what the artist needs is loneliness.

The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.

The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we never give enough is love.

- Henry Miller