Crude thoughts and fierce forces are my state. I do not know who I am. Nor what I was. I cannot hear a sound. Pain is near that will be like no pain felt before.
Norman MailerRead
Culture is worth a little risk.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Engaging with and preserving culture may involve risks, but it is ultimately valuable.
Norman Mailer's quote suggests that while there may be uncertainties and dangers associated with embracing or promoting culture, the inherent worth and benefits of cultural engagement justify taking those risks. It emphasizes the importance of culture in society and how stepping outside of one's comfort zone can lead to greater understanding and appreciation.
Themes
CultureRiskValueEngagementWorth
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of community arts programs, one might say, 'As Norman Mailer put it, culture is worth a little risk.'
More from Norman Mailer
All quotes βI no longer gave a sick dog's drop for the wisdom, the reliability and the authority of the public's literary mind, those creeps and old ladies of vested reviewing.
Norman MailerRead
There's nothing glorious about being a professional. . . . Professionalism probably comes down to being able to work on a bad day.
Norman MailerRead
The natural role of twentieth-century man is anxiety.
Norman MailerRead
Over-certified adjectives are the mark of most best-seller writing
Norman MailerRead
At bottom, I mean profoundly at bottom, the FBI has nothing to do with Communism, it has nothing to do with catching criminals, it has nothing to do with the Mafia, the syndicate, it has nothing to do with trust-busting, it has nothing to do with interstate commerce, it has nothing to do with anything but serving as a church for the mediocre. A high church for the true mediocre.
Norman MailerRead
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I don't have to participate in another culture's ceremonies in order to respect that culture.
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When the culture is strong, you've got this consistency where black people can grow up in these places with this voice just resonating about our special-ness in the universe. And I always say you're in trouble if you get too far away from that core that grounds you.
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At our peril, we ignore the fact that black vernacular, like the blues, both has a form and performs... For just as there would be no American music without black folks, there would be very little of our American language.
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A new culture can only grow up in the soil of a purged humanity.
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It wasn't until I came to New York and started to see the African American community, but also the Ethiopian community here, and started to eat the food, started to understand the music. I said, you know, I got to go and understand the culture. So me and my sister went.
Marcus SamuelssonRead