I didn't have to think up so much as a comma or a semicolon; it was all given, straight from the celestial recording room. Weary, I would beg for a break, an intermission, time enough, let's say, to go to the toilet or take a breath of fresh air on the balcony. Nothing doing!

—Henry Miller

inspiration time writing

About Henry Miller

Portrait of Henry Miller

Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blends character study, social criticism, philosophical reflection, stream of consciousness, explicit language, sex, surrealist free association,...

More quotations from Henry Miller

Music is a beautiful opiate, if you don't take it too seriously.

—Henry Miller

music pain seriousness

Life, as we all know, is conflict, and man, being part of life, is himself an expression of conflict. If he recognizes the fact and accepts it, he is apt, despite the conflict, to know peace and to enjoy it.

—Henry Miller

life acceptance peace enjoyment conflict

Instead of bucking your head against a stone wall… sit quietly with hands folded and wait for the wall to crumble. If you're willing to wait an eternity, it may happen in the twinkling of an eye. For walls often give way quicker than the proud spirit which rules us. Don't sit and pray that it will happen! Just sit and watch it happen.

—Henry Miller

patience pride eternity waiting

What have we achieved in mowing down mountain ranges, harnessing the energy of mighty rivers, or moving whole populations about like chess pieces, if we ourselves remain the same restless, miserable, frustrated creatures we were before? To call such activity progress is utter delusion.

—Henry Miller

delusion progress destruction environmentalism environment restlessness

I know what the cure is: it is to give up, to relinquish, to surrender, so that our little hearts may beat in unison with the great heart of the world.

—Henry Miller

commonality surrender

More quotations tagged with “writing”

I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon, I put it back in again.

Contrary to what many of you might imagine, a career in letters is not without its drawbacks—chief among them the unpleasant fact that one is frequently called upon to sit down and write.

—Fran Lebowitz

You do not write your life with words. You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.

—Patrick Ness in A Monster Calls

action life words writing

It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time.

—Tallulah Bankhead

writing diaries bad girls

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written.

writing quality books morality

History

20 Dec 2014 Added