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
No heart is so hard as the timid heart.
Interpretation
Timidity often leads to a hardened heart, lacking the warmth of courage.
In this quote, Norman Mailer suggests that those who are timid and unwilling to face their fears may develop an emotional hardness. This hardening stems from a refusal to engage with the world and take risks, leading to a lack of emotional depth and connection with others.
In practice
This quote can be used during a motivational speech about overcoming fear.
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.
I 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.
There's nothing glorious about being a professional. . . . Professionalism probably comes down to being able to work on a bad day.
The natural role of twentieth-century man is anxiety.
Over-certified adjectives are the mark of most best-seller writing
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.
No one's going to tell me how to make my own choices. For too many years, everybody told me what to say and what to do and how to be.
No one's ever completely broken. It's just a matter of how much has to fall apart before the ember of life is exposed to air.
In all my life, I've been trained that when there's a big problem, you run toward it.
I promised never to let the Rwandan Genocide die because I knew the Rwandans didn't have much power internationally and certainly didn't have the resources. I felt it was my duty having witnessed it, and having stayed to witness it, that I had to talk about it and keep it going.
If you win non-violently, then you have a double victory, you have not only won your fight, but you remain free.
Mine was an easy ride compared to Jackie Robinson's.
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