Background Image
...
Mind Is The Maker, For No Reason At All, For All This Creation, Created To Fall.
-Jack Kerouac
...
Please Wait....
Translating....

Mind Is The Maker,

Jack Kerouac
...
Mind Is The Maker, For No Reason At All, For All This Creation, Created To Fall.

Understanding the Quote: "mind is the maker, for no reason at all, for all this..."

This quote by Jack Kerouac reflects deeply on the theme of fall. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Fall, Mind, Creation, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Jack Kerouac interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac is celebrated for insightful thoughts on fall and mind. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

Views: 6
Topic
Fall
Mind
Creation
More From Jack Kerouac
I'm Stuck Struggling In The Cold Water, And All I Can Do Is Grieve, Grieve, In The Hoar Necessitous Horror Of The Morning, Bitterly I Hate Myself, Bitterly It's Too Late Yet While I Feel Better I Still Feel Ephemeral And Unreal And Unable To Straighten My Thoughts Or Even Really Grieve, In Fact I Feel Too Stupid To Be Really Bitter, In Short I Don't Know What I'm Doing And I'm Being Told What To Do.
Morning
Hate
Stupid
I Am Young Now And Can Look Upon My Body And Soul With Pride. But It Will Be Mangled Soon, And Later It Will Begin To Disintegrate, And Then I Shall Die, And Die Conclusively. How Can We Face Such A Fact, And Not Live In Fear?
Pride
Soul
Looks
If You Dont [sic] Say What You Want, What's The Sense Of Writing?
Writing
Want
What You Want
Details Are The Life Of Prose.
Writing
Details
Prose
What Difference Does It Make After All?--anonymity In The World Of Men Is Better Than Fame In Heaven, For What’s Heaven? What’s Earth? All In The Mind.
Wisdom
Men
Differences
Because I Cannot Write My Native Language And Have No Native Home Anymore, And Am Amazed By That Horrible Homelessness Of All French-canadian S Abroad In America.
Home
Writing
Native Language
Once There Was Louis Armstrong Blowing His Beautiful Top In The Muds Of New Orleans; Before Him The Mad Musicians Who Had Paraded On Official Days And Broke Up Their Sousa Marches Into Ragtime. Then There Was Swing, And Roy Eldridge, Vigorous And Virile, Blasting The Horn For Everything It Had In Waves Of Power And Logic And Subtlety - Leaning Into It With Glittering Eyes And A Lovely Smile And Sending It Out Broadcast To Rock The Jazz World.
Beautiful
Eye
New Orleans
To The Children And The Innocent It's All The Same.
Children
Vapor
Innocent
Whither Goest Thou, America, In Thy Shiny Car In The Night?
Night
America
Car
The Yard Was Full Of Tomato Plants About To Ripen, And Mint, Mint, Everything Smelling Of Mint, And One Fine Old Tree That I Loved To Sit Under On Those Cool Perfect Starry California October Nights Unmatched Anywhere In The World.
Night
California
Perfect
Who Can Leap The World's Ties And Sit With Me Among White Clouds?
Clouds
White
Ties
Let Nature Do The Freezing And Frightening And Isolating In This World. Let Men Work And Love And Fight It Off.
Wisdom
Fighting
Men
It Was A Rainy Night. It Was The Myth Of The Rainy Night.
Night
Rainy
Myth
I'd Better Be A Poet Or Lay Down Dead.
Poet
Lays
They Spent All Week Saving Pennies And Went Out Saturdays To Spend Fifty Bucks In Three Hours.
Three
Saving
Fifty
And He Had A Nice Home In Ohio With Wife, Daughter, Christmas Tree, Two Cars, Garage, Lawn, Lawnmower, But He Couldn't Enjoy Any Of It Because He Really Wasn't Free. It Was Sadly True.
Daughter
Nice
Home
Ah, If I Could Realize, If I Could Forget Myself And Devote My Meditations To The Freeing, The Awakening And The Blessedness Of All Living Creatures Everywhere I'd Realize What There Is, Is Ecstasy.
Meditation
Awakening
Realizing
Cats Yawn Because They Realize That There's Nothing To Do.
Cat
Realizing
In My Medicine Cabinet, The Winter Fly Has Died Of Old Age.
Winter
Medicine
Age
What's Your Road, Man? - Holyboy Road, Madman Road, Rainbow Road, Guppy Road, Any Road. It's An Anywhere Road For Anybody Anyhow. Where Body How?
Men
Rainbow
Body
Nothing Ever Happened - Not Even This
Happened
If You Own A Rug You Own Too Much.
Wisdom
Too Much
Ifs
But There's No Joy At All, People Say "oh Well He's Drunk And Happy Let Him Sleep It Off"--the Poor Drunkard Is *crying*--he's Crying For His Mother And Father And Great Brother And Great Friend, He's Crying For Help. (p.111)
Mother
Brother
Father
He Seems To Me To Be Headed For His Ideal Fate, Which Is Compulsive Psychosis Dashed With A Jigger Of Psychopathic Irresponsibility And Violence
Fate
Psychosis
Violence
It Was The Work Of The Quiet Mountains, This Torrent Of Purity At My Feet.
Feet
Mountain
Quiet
...notice How He Will Come To Manhood With His Own Particular Soul Bespeaking Itself Through The Windows Which Are His Eyes, And Such Lovely Eyes Surely Do Prophesy And Indicate The Loveliest Of Souls.
Eye
Soul
Lovely
We Should Be Wondering Tonight, "is There A World?" But I Could Go And Talk On 5, 10, 20 Minutes About Is There A World, Because There Is Really No World, Cause Sometimes I'm Walkin' On The Ground And I See Right Through The Ground. And There Is No World. And You'll Find Out.
Tonight
World
Causes
February Dawn -- Frost On The Path Where I Paced All Winter.
Winter
Dawn
Frost
Her Little Shoulders Drove Me Mad; I Hugged Her And Hugged Her. And She Loved It. 'i Love Love,' She Said, Closing Her Eyes. I Promised Her Beautiful Love. I Gloated Over Her. Our Stories Were Told; We Subsided Into Silence And Sweet Anticipatory Thoughts. It Was As Simple As That. You Could Have All Your Peaches And Bettys And Marylous And Ritas And Camilles And Inezes In This World; This Was My Girl And My Kind Of Girlsoul, And I Told Her That.
Beautiful
Girl
Sweet
Equally Empty, Equally To Be Loved, Equally A Coming Buddha
Empty
Nothing Behind Me, Everything Ahead Of Me, As Is Ever So On The Road.
Wisdom
Travel
Inspire
In My Madness I Was Actually In Love With Her For The Few Hours It All Lasted; It Was The Same Unmistakable Ache And Stab Across The Mind, The Same Sighs, The Same Pain, And Above All The Same Reluctance And Fear To Approach.
Pain
Mind
Madness
No Fear Or Shame In The Dignity Of Your Experience, Language, And Knowledge.
Love You
Loss
Forever
Houses Are Full Of Things That Gather Dust
Wisdom
Dust
House
The Four Inevitabilities: 1. Musty Books. 2. Uninteresting Nature. 3. Dull Existence. 4. Blank Nirvana, Buy That Boy.
Book
Boys
Four
My Life Is A Vast Inconsequential Epic.
Epic
Life Is
Inconsequential
He Had No Place He Could Stay In Without Getting Tired Of It And Because There Was Nowhere To Go But Everywhere, Keep Rolling Under The Stars.
Wisdom
Travel
Stars
I Don't Wanta Hear All Your Word Descriptions Of Words Words Words You Made Up All Winter, Man I Wanta Be Enlightened By Actions.
Winter
Men
Action
Maybe That's What Life Is... A Wink Of The Eye And Winking Stars.
Life
Stars
Eye
What A Horror It Would Have Been If The World Was Real, Because If The World Was Real, It Would Be Immortal.
Real
Would Be
World
The Only People For Me Are The Mad Ones, The Ones Who Are Mad To Live, Mad To Talk, Mad To Be Saved.
Hippie
Yawning
People
Mainly I've Been Back To My Books And Writings And Being Nice And Quiet And Lazy. As I'm Writing This, The Radio Says There's A Foot Of Snow Falling On Long Island. I Really Love Snow And Wish I Could Take A Long Walk In It Right Now.
Nice
Book
Fall
Suppose We Suddenly Wake Up And See That What We Thought To Be This And That, Ain't This And That At All?
Wake Up
Beat Generation
Happy. Just In My Swim Shorts, Barefooted, Wild-haired, In The Red Fire Dark, Singing, Swigging Wine, Spitting, Jumping, Running—that's The Way To Live. All Alone And Free In The Soft Sands Of The Beach By The Sigh Of The Sea Out There, With The Ma-wink Fallopian Virgin Warm Stars Reflecting On The Outer Channel Fluid Belly Waters. And If Your Cans Are Redhot And You Can't Hold Them In Your Hands, Just Use Good Old Railroad Gloves, That's All.
Happiness
Running
Beach
And Before Me Was The Great Raw Bulge And Bulk Of My American Continent; Somewhat Far Across, Gloomy, Crazy New York Was Throwing Up Its Cloud Of Dust And Brown Steam. There Is Something Brown And Holy About The East; And California Is White Like Washlines And Emptyheaded - At Least That's What I Thought Then.
New York
Crazy
Clouds
Because Anybody Can Write, But Not Everybody Invents New Forms Of Writing. Gertrude Stein Invented A New Form Of Writing And Her Imitators Are Just "talents."
Writing
Judging
Feelings
I Feel Guilty For Being A Member Of The Human Race.
Wisdom
Race
Big Sur
And I Realize The Unbearable Anguish Of Insanity: How Uninformed People Can Be Thinking Insane People Are "happy," O God, In Fact It Was Irwin Garden Once Warned Me Not To Think The Madhouses Are Full Of "happy Nuts." (p. 200)
Garden
Thinking
Nuts
One Night I Realized That When You Give People Understanding And Encouragement A Funny Little Meek Childish Look Abashes Their Eyes, No Matter What They've Been Doing They Weren't Sure It Was Right - Lambies All Over The World.
Encouragement
Eye
Night
There's Wisdom In Wine.
Wine
Rather, I Think One Should Write, As Nearly As Possible, As If He Were The First Person On Earth And Was Humbly And Sincerly Putting On Paper That Which He Saw And Experienced And Loved And Lost; What His Passing Thoughts Were And His Sorrows And Desires.
Writing
Thinking
Sorrow
How Clear The Realization One Is Going Mad -- The Mind Has A Silence, Nothing Happens In The Physique, Urine Gathers In Your Loins, Your Ribs Contract.
Mad
Silence
Mind
And What Does The Rain Say At Night In A Small Town, What Does The Rain Have To Say? Who Walks Beneath Dripping Melancholy Branches Listening To The Rain? Who Is There In The Rain’s Million-needled Blurring Splash, Listening To The Grave Music Of The Rain At Night, September Rain, September Rain, So Dark And Soft? Who Is There Listening To Steady Level Roaring Rain All Around, Brooding And Listening And Waiting, In The Rain-washed, Rain-twinkled Dark Of Night?
Rain
Dark
Night
The Bus Roared On. I Was Going Home In October. Everybody Goes Home In October.
Home
October
Going Home
But I Remember Seeing A Mess Of Leaves Suddenly Go Skittering In The Wind And Into The Creek, Then Floating Rapidly Down The Creek Towards The Sea, Making Me Feel A Nameless Horror Even Then Of 'oh My God, We're All Being Swept Away To Sea No Matter What We Know Or Say Or Do
Wind
Sea
Matter
The Happiness Consists In Realizing That It Is All A Great Strange Dream.
Dream
Wisdom
Yoga
The Whole Mad Swirl Of Everything That Was To Come Began Then.
Mad
Literature
Swirls
The Fact That Everybody In The World Dreams Every Night Ties All Mankind Together.
Dream
Night
Ties
Be Crazy Dumbsaint Of The Mind.
Crazy
Mind
Being Crazy
Eager For Bread And Love.
Love
Age
And Love
I Am Writing This Book Because We're All Going To Die - In The Loneliness Of My Own Life, My Father Dead, My Brother Dead, My Mother Faraway, My Sister And My Wife Far Away, Nothing Here But My Own Tragic Hands That Once Were Guarded By A World, A Sweet Attention, That Now Are Left To Guide And Disappear Their Own Way Into The Common Dark Of All Our Deaths, Sleeping In Me Raw Bed, Alone And Stupid: With Just This One Pride And Consolation: My Broke Heart In The General Despair And Opened Up Inwards To The Lord, I Made A Supplication In This Dream
Mother
Dream
Sweet
What Is That Feeling When You're Driving Away From People And They Recede On The Plain Till You See Their Specks Dispersing? - It's The Too-huge World Vaulting Us, And It's Good-by. But We Lean Forward To The Next Crazy Venture Beneath The Skies.
Goodbye
Travel
Crazy
When You've Understood This Scripture, Throw It Away. If You Can't Understand This Scripture, Throw It Away. I Insist On Your Freedom.
Wisdom
Positivity
Scripture
I Want To Work In Revelations, Not Just Spin Silly Tales For Money. I Want To Fish As Deep Down As Possible Into My Own Subconscious In The Belief That Once That Far Down, Everyone Will Understand Because They Are The Same That Far Down.
Silly
Want
Belief
You Don't Realize What A Strain It Is On The Nerves To Write Or Think-of-writing All Day Long, And To Sleep Full Of Nervous Dreams, And To Wake Up Not Knowing Who One Is: This All Stems From Anxiety About Finishing The Book, About Time 'growing Short', Etc., And The Perpetual Strain Of Invention.
Dream
Book
Writing
You Aren't Ever Going To Be Anything In This World Unless You Do What You Want To Do, When You Want To Do It--don't Plan Anything, Just Go Out And Do It.
World
Want
Plans
Down In Denver, All I Did Was Die.
Denver
Dies
Night Is Longer Than Day For Those Who Dream & Day Is Longer Than Night For Those Who Make Their Dreams Comes True.
Good Night
Goodnight
Dream
I Was Halfway Across America, At The Dividing Line Between The East Of My Youth And The West Of My Future.
America
East
Lines
Work From Pithy Middle Eye Out, Swimming In Language Sea.
Eye
Swimming
Sea
I Rather Like The Idea Of Having All My Hours To Myself: Eating A Fudge Sundae, Watching A Movie, Sleeping On My Couch, Singing In The Bathroom, Studying The Woods, Kidding Around With A Girl, Playing Cards Lazily - All Kinds Of Stuff That American Brands 'shiftless.'
Girl
Sleep
Ice Cream
I Realized That I Had Died And Been Reborn Numberless Times But Just Didn't Remember Because The Transitions From Life To Death And Back Are So Ghostly Easy, A Magical Action For Naught, Like Falling Asleep And Waking Up Again A Million Times, The Utter Casualness And Deep Ignorance Of It.
Death
Fall
Ignorance
Don't Think Of Words When You Stop But To See Picture Better.
Inspirational
Thinking
Vision
This Is The Story Of America. Everybody's Doing What They Think They're Supposed To Do.
4th Of July
Thinking
America
I Wish The Whole World Was Dead Serious About Food Instead Of Silly Rockets And Machines And Explosives Using Everybody's Food Money To Blow Their Heads Off Anyway.
Silly
Blow
Wish
You Can't Live In This World But There's Nowhere Else To Go.
World
This World
Pretty Girls Make Graves
Girl
Pretty Girl
Graves
Writing At Least Is A Silent Meditation Even Though You’re Going A Hundred Miles An Hour.
Writing
Meditation
Silent
There Is Universal Substance Which Is Divine Substance Because Where Else Can It Be?
Substance
Divine
Universal
And You Have Been Forever, And Will Be Forever, And All The Worrisome Smashings Of Your Foot On Innocent Cupboard Doors It Was Only The Void Pretending To Be A Man Pretending Not To Know The Void.
Men
Doors
Feet
Because In The End, You Won't Remember The Time You Spent Working In The Office Or Mowing Your Lawn. Climb That Goddamn Mountain
Motivational
Wisdom
Travel
It's Only Through Form That We Can Realize Emptiness
Emptiness
Realizing
Form
Galatea Was A Serious Girl. She Was Pale And Looked Like Tears All Over. Big Ed Passed His Hand Through His Hair And Said Hello. She Looked At Him Steadily. "where Have You Been? Why Did You Do This To Me?" And She Gave Dean A Dirty Look; She Knew The Score. Dean Paid Absolutely No Attention; What He Wanted Now Was Food; He Asked Jane If There Was Anything. The Confusion Began Right There.
Girl
Dirty
Hair
Listen To The Silence Inside The Illusion Of The World, And You Will Remember The Lesson You Forgot
Silence
World
Lessons
So Long And Take It Easy, Because If You Start Taking Things Seriously, It Is The End Of You.
Long
Easy
Ends
Cliches Are Truisms And All Truisms Are True
Cliche
Truism
I Mean, Why On Earth (outside Sickness And Hangovers) Aren't People Continually Drunk? I Want Ecstasy Of The Mind All The Time.
Hangover
Mean
People
Don't Tell Them Too Much About Your Soul. They're Waiting For Just That.
Waiting
Soul
Too Much
Jumping From Boulder To Boulder And Never Falling, With A Heavy Pack, Is Easier Than It Sounds; You Just Can't Fall When You Get Into The Rhythm Of The Dance.
Fall
Jumping
Boulders
Keep It Kickwriting At All Costs Too, That Is, Write Only What Kicks You And Keeps You Overtime Awake From Sheer Mad Joy.
Writing
Mad
Joy
It Is Possible For The Human Spirit To Win After All.
Winning
Spirit
Humans
I'd Sleep And Forget It; I Had My Own Life, My Own Sad And Ragged Life Forever.
Sleep
Forever
Forget
In All This Welter Of Women I Still Hadn't Got One For Myself, Not That I Was Trying Too Hard, But Sometimes I Felt Lonely To See Everybody Paired Off And Having A Good Time And All I Did Was Curl Up In My Sleeping Bag In The Rosebushes And Sigh And Say Bah. For Me It Was Just Red Wine In My Mouth And A Pile Of Firewood
Lonely
Wine
Sleep
I Realized Either I Was Crazy Or The World Was Crazy; And I Picked On The World. And Of Course I Was Right.
Crazy
World
I Realized
Why Did I Allow Myself To Be Bored Ever In The Past And To Compensate For It Got High Or Drunk Or Rages Or All The Tricks People Have Because They Want Anything But Serene Understanding Of Just What There Is, Which Is After All So Much.
Past
People
Drunk
How I Wished I'd Have Had A Camera Of My Own, A Mad Mental Camera That Could Register Pictorial Shots, Of The Photographic Artist Himself Prowling About For His Ultimate Shot - An Epic In Itself. (on The Road With Robert Frank, 1958)
Epic
Artist
Mad
The Empty Blue Sky Of Space Says 'all This Comes Back To Me, Then Goes Again, And Comes Back Again, Then Goes Again, And I Don't Care, It Still Belongs To Me
Wisdom
Sky
Space
I'd Also Gone Through An Entire Year Of Celibacy Based On My Feeling That Lust Was The Direct Cause Of Birth Which Was The Direct Cause Of Suffering And Death.
Years
Suffering And Death
Feelings
Walking On Water Wasn't Built In A Day.
Water
Walking On Water
Walking
There Was Nothing To Talk About Anymore. The Only Thing To Do Was Go.
Travel
Things To Do
One Man Practicing Kindness In The Wilderness Is Worth All The Temples This World Pulls.
Wisdom
Peace
Kindness
On Soft Spring Nights I'll Stand In The Yard Under The Stars - Something Good Will Come Out Of All Things Yet - And It Will Be Golden And Eternal Just Like That - There's No Need To Say Another Word.
Wisdom
Stars
Spring
Hell Man, I Know Very Well You Didn't Come To Me Only To Want To Become A Writer, And After All What Do I Really Know About It Except That You've Got To Stick To It With The Energy Of A Benny Addict.
Writing
Men
Energy
But They Need To Worry And Betray Time With Urgencies False And Otherwise, Purely Anxious And Whiny, Their Souls Really Won't Be At Peace Unless They Can Latch To An Established And Proven Worry And Having Once Found It They Assume Facial Expressions To Fit And Go With It, Which Is, You See, Unhappiness, And All The Time It All Flies By Them And They Know It And That Too Worries Them No End.
Expression
Worry
Soul
Parade My Trouble In Front Of You Guys? Make You Realize That My Heart Is Broken . . . That As Long As I Live I'll Have Chains Dragging Me Down To The Oceans Of Sad Tears That My Feet Are Wet In Already.
Ocean
Heart
Feet
I'm Going To Marry My Novels And Have Little Short Stories For Children.
Wisdom
Children
Stories
"what Do You Want Out Of Life?" I Asked, And I Used To Ask That All The Time Of Girls. "i Don't Know," She Said. "just Wait On Tables And Try To Get Along." She Yawned. I Put My Hand Over Her Mouth And Told Her Not To Yawn. I Tried To Tell Her How Excited I Was About Life And The Things We Could Do Together; Saying That, And Planning To Leave Denver In Two Days. She Turned Away Wearily. We Lay On Our Backs, Looking At The Ceiling And Wondering What God Had Wrought When He Made Life So Sad.
Girl
Hands
Two
Something Good Will Come Out Of All Things Yet — And It Will Be Golden And Eternal Just Like That.
All Things
Good Will
She Spoke Of Evenings In The Country Making Popcorn On The Porch. Once This Would Have Gladdened My Heart But Because Her Heart Was Not Glad When She Said It I Knew There Was Nothing In It But The Idea Of What One Should Do.
Country
Heart
Ideas
Boys And Girls In America Have Such A Sad Time Together; Sophistication Demands That They Submit To Sex Immediately Without Proper Preliminary Talk. Not Courting Talk - Real Straight Talk About Souls, For Life Is Holy And Every Moment Is Precious.
Girl
Sex
Real
And Silence Is The Golden Mountain
Silence
Mountain
Golden
Think What A Great World Revolution Will Take Place When ... [there Are] Millions Of Guys All Over The World With Rucksacks On Their Backs Tramping Around The Back Country.
Country
Journey
Thinking
Life Was Dense, Dark, Ancient. They Watched Dean, Serious And Insane At His Raving Wheel, With Eyes Of Hawks. All Had Their Hands Outstretched. They Had Come Down From The Back Mountains And Higher Places To Hold Forth Their Hands For Something They Thought Civilization Could Offer, And They Never Dreamed The Sadness And The Poor Broken Delusion Of It.
Sadness
Eye
Dark
The Bartenders Are The Regular Band Of Jack, And The Heavenly Drummer Who Looks Up To The Sky With Blue Eyes, With A Beard, Is Wailing Beer-caps Of Bottles And Jamming On The Cash Register And Everything Is Going To The Beat - It's The Beat Generation, Its Béat, It's The Beat To Keep, It's The Beat Of The Heart, It's Being Beat And Down In The World And Like Oldtime Lowdown.
Heart
Eye
Beer
The Secret Of This Kind Of Climbing, Is Like Zen. Don't Think. Just Dance Along. It's The Easiest Thing In The World, Actually Easier Than Walking On Flat Ground Which Is Monotonous. The Cute Little Problems Present Themselves At Each Step And Yet You Don't Hesitate And You Find Yourself On Some Other Boulder You Picked Out For No Special Reason At All, Just Like Zen.~ Japhy
Cute
Thinking
Climbing
We Were On The Roof Of America And All We Could Do Was Yell
America
Roof
Better To Sleep In An Uncomfortable Bed Free, Than Sleep In A Comfortable Bed Unfree.
Wisdom
Sleep
Bed
I'm Not A Beatnik. I'm A Catholic.
Catholic
Beatnik
Absolutely No Way To Escape Enigmans.
Way
So I Rushed Past The Pretty Girls, And The Prettiest Girls In The World Live In Des Moines.
Girl
Past
World
Oh My God, Sociability Is Just A Big Smile And A Big Smile Is Nothing But Teeth, I Wish I Could Just Stay Up Here And Rest And Be Kind." But Somebody Brought Up Some Wine And That Started Me Off.
Wine
Wish
Teeth
-no Girl Had Ever Moved Me With A Story Of Spiritual Suffering And So Beautifully Her Soul Showing Out Radiant As An Angel Wandering In Hell And The Hell The Selfsame Streets I'd Roamed In Watching, Watching For Someone Just Like Her And Never Dreaming The Darkness And The Mystery And Eventuality Of Our Meeting In Eternity.
Girl
Dream
Spiritual
The Truth Of The Matter Is We Don't Understand Our Women; We Blame On Them And It's All Our Fault.
Matter
Faults
Blame
Who Doesn't Feel Studious When He Doesn't Have A Girl With A Riviera Suntan?
Girl
Feels
Studious
I Was A Man Of The Earth, Precisely As I Had Dreamed I Would Be.
Men
Would Be
Earth
He Had Never Felt Anything Like That Before - Yet Somehow He Knew That From Now On He Would Always Feel Like That, Always, And Something Caught At His Throat As He Realized What A Strange Sad Adventure Life Might Get To Be, Strange And Sad And Still Much More Beautiful And Amazing Than He Could Ever Have Imagined Because It Was So Really, Strangely Sad.
Beautiful
Adventure
Might
It's Okay, Girl, We'll Make It Till The Sun Goes Down Forever. And Until Then What You Got To Lose But The Losing? We're Fallen Angels Who Didn't Believe That Nothing Means Nothing.
Girl
Believe
Mean
It Always Makes Me Proud To Love The World Somehow- Hate's So Easy Compared.
Wisdom
Hate
World
And As Far As I Can See The World Is Too Old For Us To Talk About It With Our New Words.
World
New Words
I Can
Somebody Had Tipped The American Continent Like A Pinball Machine And All The Goofballs Had Come Rolling To La In The Southwest Corner. I Cried For All Of Us. There Was No End To The American Sadness And The American Madness. Someday We'll All Start Laughing And Roll On The Ground When We Realize How Funny It's Been.
Sadness
Laughing
Machines
The Human Bones Are But Vain Lines Dawdling, The Whole Universe A Blank Mold Of Stars.
Stars
Mold
Lines
Holy Flowers Floating In The Air, Were All These Tired Faces In The Dawn Of Jazz America.
Flower
Tired
Air
Because The Only People For Me Are The Mad Ones.
Hippie
Yawning
People
We Are Nothing. - Tomorrow We May Be Die. We Are Nothing. - You And Me.
May
Tomorrow
Dies
The Cowboy Music Twanged In The Roadhouse And Carried Across The Fields, All Sadness. It Was All Right With Me. I Kissed My Baby And We Put Out The Lights.
Baby
Sadness
Cowboy
A Man Who Allows Wild Passion To Arise Within, Himself Burns His Heart, Then After Burning Adds The Wind That Thereto Which Ignites The Fire Again, Or Not, As The Case May Be.
Passion
Heart
Men
The Air Was So Sweet In New Orleans It Seemed To Come In Soft Bandannas; And You Could Smell The River And Really Smell The People, And Mud, And Molasses, And Every Kind Of Tropical Exhalation, With Your Nose Suddenly Removed From The Dry Ices Of A Northern Winter.
Sweet
Winter
New Orleans
Sal, We Gotta Go And Never Stop Going 'till We Get There.' 'where We Going, Man?' 'i Don't Know But We Gotta Go.
Wisdom
Men
Road Life
While Looking For The Light, You May Suddenly Be Devoured By The Darkness And Find The True Light
Light
Darkness
May
It’s Not That I Can’t Fall In Love. It’s Really That I Can’t Help Falling In Love With Too Many Things All At Once. So, You Must Understand Why I Can’t Distinguish Between What’s Platonic And What Isn’t, Because It’s All Too Much And Not Enough At The Same Time.
Falling In Love
Too Much
Helping
And Then We’ll All Go Off To Sweet Life, ‘cause Now Is The Time And We All Know Time!
Sweet
Causes
Sweet Life
The Details Are The Life Of It, I Insist, Say Everything On Your Mind, Don’t Hold Back, Don’t Analyze Or Anything As You Go Along, Say It Out.
Wisdom
Mind
Details
Never Dreaming, Was I, Poor Jack Duluoz, That The Soul Is Dead. That From Heaven Grace Descends . . . No Doctor Pisspot Poorpail To Tell Me; No Example Inside My First And Only Skin. That Love Is The Heritage, And Cousin To Death. That The Only Love Can Only Be The First Love, The Only Death The Last, The Only Life Within, And The Only Word . . . Choked Forever.
Love
Dream
Cousin
And When The Fog's Over And The Stars And The Moon Come Out At Night It'll Be A Beautiful Sight.
Beautiful
Stars
Moon
And Nobody Knows What’s Going To Happen To Anybody Besides The Forlorn Rags Of Growing Old
Rags
Growing
Forlorn
The Page Is Long, Blank, And Full Of Truth. When I Am Through With It, It Shall Probably Be Long, Full, And Empty With Words.
Wisdom
Long
Pages
I Don't Know, I Don't Care, And It Doesn't Make Any Difference.
Wisdom
Caring
Differences
I Have The Right Ideas, But My Words Are Too... Complicated. I Need To Simplify Them, So That People Won't Get Lost In The Dark When They See And Hear Them. I Want Them To Shine Like Beacons Of Light In A World Of Overly Complicated Darkness. One Day I Will Find The Right Words, And They Will Be Simple.
Writing
Dark
Simple
And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks!
Tanks
Beat Generation
Hippo
Let The Mind Beware, That Though The Flesh Be Bugged, The Circumstances Of Existence Are Pretty Glorious.
Wisdom
Mind
Gorges
...most Of The Time We Were Alone And Mixing Up Our Souls Ever More And Ever More Till It Would Be Terribly Hard To Say Good-by.
Soul
Mixing
Would Be
Swinging On Delicate Hinges The Autumn Leaf Almost Off The Stem.
Fall
Autumn
Leafs
And With Joy You Realize For The First Time "thinking's Just Like Not Thinking — So I Don't Have To Think Any More".
Life
Thinking
Joy
At Lilac Evening I Walked With Every Muscle Aching Among The Lights Of 27th And Welton In The Denver Colored Section, Wishing I Were A Negro, Feeling That The Best The White World Had Offered Was Not Enough Ecstasy For Me, Not Enough Life, Joy, Kicks, Darkness, Music, Not Enough Night.
Night
Light
White
Goddamn It, Feeling Is What I Like In Art, Not Craftiness And The Hiding Of Feelings.
Art
Feelings
Hiding
You'd Be Surprised How Little I Knew Even Up To Yesterday
Wisdom
Yesterday
Littles
Rest And Be Kind, You Don't Have To Prove Anything
Writing
Be Kind
Kind
It's All Too Much And Not Enough At The Same Time.
Tattoo
Too Much
Enough
Contrary To The General Belief About Photography, You Don't Need Bright Sunlight: The Best Moodiest Pictures Are Taken In The Dim Light Of Almost Dusk, Or Of Rainy Days.
Photography
Taken
Rainy Day
Don't Use The Phone. People Are Never Ready To Answer It. Use Poetry.
Wisdom
Phones
People
The Words Are Clear As In The Reflection Of The World On The Water. Therefore Write The Word At Once, Everywhere, From Now Till Your Hand Is Paralyzed, For There Will Be Your Work For God, Since You Can Not Work For God In Other Ways, And Would Not, & Don't Know How, Or Bend That Way, From Habit, & From Talent In The Use & Signification & Arrangement Of The Word.
Writing
Reflection
Hands
Write In Recollection And Amazement For Yourself.
Writing
Recollection
Amazement
It Was My Dream That Screwed Up, The Stupid Hearthside Idea That It Would Be Wonderful To Follow One Great Red Line Across America Instead Of Trying Various Roads And Routes.
Dream
Stupid
Ideas
Colleges Being Nothing But Grooming Schools For The Middle-class Non-identity Which Usually Finds Its Perfect Expression On The Outskirts Of The Campus In Rows Of Well-to-do Houses With Lawns And Television Sets In Each Living Room With Everybody Looking At The Same Thing And Thinking The Same Thing At The Same Time While The Japhies Of The World Go Prowling In The Wilderness To Hear The Voice Crying In The Wilderness, To Find The Ecstacy Of The Stars, To Find The Dark Mysterious Secret Of The Origin Of Faceless Wonderless Crapulous Civilization.
Stars
School
Dark
This Was Really The Way My Whole Road Experience Began, And The Things That Were To Come Are Too Fantastic Not To Tell.
Way
Fantastic
Whole
I'm Catholic And I Can't Commit Suicide, But I Plan To Drink Myself To Death.
Suicide
Drinking
Beer
The Air Was Soft, The Stars So Fine, The Promise Of Every Cobbled Alley So Great, That I Thought I Was In A Dream.
Dream
Stars
Air
I See As Much As Doors'll Allow, Open Or Shut.
Doors
I Pictured Myself In A Denver Bar That Night, With All The Gang, And In Their Eyes I Would Be Strange And Ragged And Like The Prophet Who Has Walked Across The Land To Bring The Dark Word, And The Only Word I Had Was 'wow!
Eye
Dark
Night
Yeah," I Said, "but You're An Artist. You Don't Believe In Decency And Honesty And Gratitude. Where Shall We Eat?
Gratitude
Honesty
Believe
Whenever Spring Comes To New York I Can't Stand The Suggestion Of The Land That Come Blowing Over The River From New Jersey And I've Got To Go. So I Went.
New York
Spring
Land
As Early Pioneers In The Knowing, That When You Lose Your Reason, You Attain Highest Perfect Knowing.
Knowing
Perfect
Pioneers
The More Ups And Downs, The More Joy I Feel. The Greater The Fear, The Greater The Happiness I Feel.
Joy
Feels
Ups & Downs
The Truth Of The Matter Is, You Die, All You Do Is Die, And Yet You Live, Yes You Live, And That's No Harvard Lie.
Lying
Matter
Harvard
Vanity Of Vanities… All Is Vanity.’ You Kill Yourself To Get To The Grave. Especially You Kill Yourself To Get To The Grave Before You Die; And The Name Of The Grave Is ‘success’, The Name Of That Grave Is Hullabullo Boom Boom Horseshit.
Vanity
Names
Graves
What's In Store For Me In The Direction I Don't Take?
Wisdom
Stores
...the Tale That's Told For No Other Reason But Companionship, Which Is Another (and My Favorite) Definition Of Literature, The Tale That's Told For Companionship And To Teach Something Religious, Of Religious Reverence, About Real Life, In This Real World Which Literature Should (and Here Does) Reflect.
Religious
Real
Doe
All He Needed Was A Wheel In His Hand And Four On The Road.
Wisdom
Hands
Wheels
Down On The Lake Rosy Reflections Of Celestial Vapor Appeared, And I Said, "god, I Love You" And Looked To The Sky And Really Meant It. "i Have Fallen In Love With You, God. Take Care Of Us All, One Way Or The Other." To The Children And The Innocent It's All The Same.
God
Faith
Children
The Closer You Get To Real Matter, Rock Air Fire And Wood, Boy, The More Spiritual The World Is.
Spiritual
Wisdom
Real
Here I Was At The End Of America...no More Land...and Nowhere Was Nowhere To Go But Back
Land
America
Nowhere To Go
You Don't Know What To Say To Me Because The Kingdom Is Within...flesh And Blood's Dream...so You Fly Now, Pay Later, All Of Us...i Mean Actually It's Pay Now, Fly Later
Dream
Mean
Blood
I Just Won't Sleep," I Decided. There Were So Many Other Interesting Things To Do.
Wisdom
Sleep
Interesting
Mankind Is Like Dogs, Not Gods - As Long As You Don't Get Mad They'll Bite You - But Stay Mad And You'll Never Be Bitten. Dogs Don't Respect Humility And Sorrow.
Dog
Humility
Long
The Sun Goes Down Long And Red. All The Magic Names Of The Valley Unrolled - Manteca, Madera, All The Rest. Soon It Got Dusk, A Grapy Dusk, A Purple Dusk Over Tangerine Groves And Long Melon Field; The Sun The Color Of Pressed Grapes, Slashed With Burgundy Red, The Fields The Color Of Love And Spanish Mysteries. I Stuck My Head Out The Window And Took Deep Breaths Of The Fragant Air. It Was The Most Beautiful Of All Moments.
Beautiful
Air
Color
This Was A Manuscript Of The Night We Couldn’t Read.
Night
Manuscripts
I'd Rather Hop Freights Around The Country And Cook My Food Out Of Tin Cans Over Wood Fires, Than Be Rich And Have A Home Or Work.
Country
Home
Fire
It'll Take You Eternities To Get Rid Of Me,' She Adds Sadly, Which Makes Me Jealous, I Want Her To Say I'll Never Get Rid Of Her - I Wanta Be Chased Till Eternity Till I Catch Her.
Jealous
Add
Want
I Want A Blaze Of Light To Flame In Me Forever In A Timeless, Dear Love Of Everything. And Why Should I Pretend To Want Anything Else?
Light
Flames
Forever
As I Grew Older I Became A Drunk. Why? Because I Like Ecstasy Of The Mind.
Drunk
Mind
Grew
Genius Gives Birth, Talent Delivers.
Writing
Giving
Genius
And Never Really Thought I'd Amount To Anything. It Was Precisely What I Wanted The Whole World To Think; Then I Could Sneak In, If That's What They Wanted, And Sneak Out Again, Which I Did.
Thinking
Sneak In
World
I Clearly Saw The Skeleton Underneath All This Show Of Personality What Is Left Of A Man And All His Pride But Bones?
Pride
Men
Skeletons
I Woke Up As The Sun Was Reddening; And That Was The One Distinct Time In My Life, The Strangest Moment Of All, When I Didn't Know Who I Was - I Was Far Away From Home, Haunted And Tired With Travel, In A Cheap Hotel Room I'd Never Seen, Hearing The Hiss Of Steam Outside, And The Creak Of The Old Wood Of The Hotel, And Footsteps Upstairs, And All The Sad Sounds, And I Looked At The Cracked High Ceiling And Really Didn't Know Who I Was For About Fifteen Strange Seconds. I Wasn't Scared; I Was Just Somebody Else, Some Stranger, And My Whole Life Was A Haunted Life, The Life Of A Ghost.
Wisdom
Home
Tired
As We Crossed The Colorado-utah Border I Saw God In The Sky In The Form Of Huge Gold Sunburning Clouds Above The Desert That Seemed To Point A Finger At Me And Say, "pass Here And Go On, You're On The Road To Heaven.
Clouds
Utah
Sky
Avoid The World, It's Just A Lot Of Dust And Drag And Means Nothing In The End.
Mean
Dust
World
The Fact Was I Had The Vision... I Think Everyone Has... What We Lack Is The Method.
Thinking
Vision
Facts
Burroughs Is The Greatest Satirical Writer Since Jonathan Swift. . . . The Net Result Of Naked Lunch Will Be To Make People Shudder At Their Own Lies, Will Be To Make Them Open Up And Be Straight With One Another. Swift And Rabelais And Sterne Accomplished A Step In That Direction, And Burroughs Another.
Lying
Lunch
People
Ah, Life Is A Gate, A Way, A Path To Paradise Anyway, Why Not Live For Fun And Joy And Love Or Some Sort Of Girl By A Fireside, Why Not Go To Your Desire And Laugh.
Love
Life
Girl
One Day I Will Find The Right Words, And They Will Be Simple.
Life
Wisdom
Writing
Trending Author
Jodi Rell
John Forbes Nash
Liz Carpenter
Freddy Fender
Jeane Kirkpatrick
James Dyson
Category
Information