Henry miller

The legal system is often a mystery, and we, its priests, preside over rituals baffling to everyday citizens.

It does me good to write a letter which is not a response to a demand, a gratuitous letter, so to speak, which has accumulated in me like the waters of a reservoir.

Moralities, ethics, laws, customs, beliefs, doctrines - these are of trifling import. All that matters is that the miraculous become the norm.

Instead of asking 'How much damage will the work in question bring about?' why not ask 'How much good? How much joy?'

The great work must inevitably be obscure, except to the very few, to those who like the author himself are initiated into the mysteries. Communication then is secondary: it is perpetuation which is...

Life has to be given a meaning because of the obvious fact that it has no meaning.

One of the reasons why so few of us ever act, instead of react, is because we are continually stifling our deepest impulses.

The world is the mirror of myself dying.

When one is trying to do something beyond his known powers it is useless to seek the approval of friends. Friends are at their best in moments of defeat.

I see America spreading disaster. I see America as a black curse upon the world. I see a long night settling in and that mushroom which has poisoned the world withering at the roots.