--- title: "10 Knows Quotes By Norman Mailer" description: "10 Knows quotes by Norman Mailer. Plus more from Norman Mailer and more Knows sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07d/norman-mailer-839_advice_there-are-days-when-i-ll-wake-up-and-thi_1675743.png" --- > [There are days when I'll wake up and think, oh, I've really been something. You know, it won't be the same without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/there-are-days-when-i-ll-wake-up-and-think-oh-i-ve-really-been/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07d/norman-mailer-839_advice_there-are-days-when-i-ll-wake-up-and-thi_1675743.png) > [Is one human? Or merely alive? Like a blade of grass equal to all existance in the moment it is torn? Yes.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/is-one-human-or-merely-alive-like-a-blade-of-grass-equal-to-all/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3cf/norman-mailer-839_alive_is-one-human-or-merely-alive-like-a-blad_1442552.jpg) > [Only another writer can know how much damage writing a novel can do to you. It's an unnatural activity to sit at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/only-another-writer-can-know-how-much-damage-writing-a-novel-can-do/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/545/norman-mailer-839_activity_only-another-writer-can-know-how-much-da_2925668.png) > [The condition that is most disagreeable in your life becomes the most useful one. You know, I feel the same way about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/the-condition-that-is-most-disagreeable-in-your-life-becomes-the-most/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c88/norman-mailer-839_army_the-condition-that-is-most-disagreeable_2215991.jpg) > [There are four stages to marriage. First there's the affair, then there's the marriage, then children, and finally the fourth stage, without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/there-are-four-stages-to-marriage-first-there-s-the-affair-then-there/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bfa/norman-mailer-839_affair_there-are-four-stages-to-marriage-first_391999.png) > [To know what you want to say is not the best condition for writing a novel. Novels go happiest when you discover…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/to-know-what-you-want-to-say-is-not-the-best-condition-for-writing-a/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/891/norman-mailer-839_books_to-know-what-you-want-to-say-is-not-the_2093332.png) > [As Kierkegaard was the first to suggest, we can never know where our prayers are likely to go nor from whom the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/as-kierkegaard-was-the-first-to-suggest-we-can-never-know-where-our/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/599/norman-mailer-839_answers_as-kierkegaard-was-the-first-to-suggest_1255659.jpg) > [Crude thoughts and fierce forces are my state. I do not know who I am. Nor what I was. I cannot hear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/crude-thoughts-and-fierce-forces-are-my-state-i-do-not-know-who-i-am/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/902/norman-mailer-839_crude_crude-thoughts-and-fierce-forces-are-my_1347475.jpg) > [When you know too much information and you acquire it too easily, you tend to either use it in disagreeable ways, out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/when-you-know-too-much-information-and-you-acquire-it-too-easily-you/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de4/norman-mailer-839_acquire_when-you-know-too-much-information-and-y_3145295.png) > [It's very bad to write a novel by act of will. I can do a book of nonfiction work that way -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/it-s-very-bad-to-write-a-novel-by-act-of-will-i-can-do-a-book-of/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e5/norman-mailer-839_book_it-s-very-bad-to-write-a-novel-by-act-of_814381.png) ## Other authors on Knows ## More by Norman Mailer > [Conservatives are people who look at a tree and feel instinctively that it is more beautiful than anything they can name. But when it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/conservatives-are-people-who-look-at-a-tree-and-feel-instinctively/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [There's a subterranean impetus towards pornography so powerful that half the business world is juiced by the sort of half sex that one finds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/there-s-a-subterranean-impetus-towards-pornography-so-powerful-that/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [So the blind will lead the blind, and the deaf shout warnings to one another until their voices are lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/so-the-blind-will-lead-the-blind-and-the-deaf-shout-warnings-to-one/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [Writing for a newspaper is like running a revolutionary war. You go to battle not when you are ready, but when action offers itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/writing-for-a-newspaper-is-like-running-a-revolutionary-war-you-go-to/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [I would introduce myself if it were not useless. The name I had last night will not be the same as the name I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/i-would-introduce-myself-if-it-were-not-useless-the-name-i-had-last/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [“City Point is so beautiful, she says. In the night they cannot see the garbage that litters the beach, the seaweed and driftwood, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/city-point-is-so-beautiful-she-says-in-the-night-they-cannot-see-the/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [“I find it’s more fun to write about something that you don’t know completely and that you will discover on route. A dear friend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/i-find-it-s-more-fun-to-write-about-something-that-you-don-t-know/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [Short-term amnesia is not the worst affliction if you have an Irish flair for the sauce.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/short-term-amnesia-is-not-the-worst-affliction-if-you-have-an-irish/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [Part of the oncoming demise (of New York during its terrible fiscal crisis) is that none of us can simply believe it. We were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/part-of-the-oncoming-demise-of-new-york-during-its-terrible-fiscal/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [I have always had this very strong, call it a feeling, call it a prejudice, call it a conviction ... that the mysteries are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/i-have-always-had-this-very-strong-call-it-a-feeling-call-it-a/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [I do believe that America's deepest political sickness is that it is a self-righteous nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/i-do-believe-that-america-s-deepest-political-sickness-is-that-it-is/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [America is a hurricane, and the only people who do not hear the sound are those fortunate if incredibly stupid and smug White Protestants…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/america-is-a-hurricane-and-the-only-people-who-do-not-hear-the-sound/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [Armstrong, sitting in the commander's seat, spacesuit on, helmet on, plugged into electrical and environmental umbilical's, is a man who is not only a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/armstrong-sitting-in-the-commander-s-seat-spacesuit-on-helmet-on/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [I was thinking that surgeons had to be the happiest people on earth. To cut people up and get paid for it-that's happiness, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/i-was-thinking-that-surgeons-had-to-be-the-happiest-people-on-earth/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [Movies are more likely than literature to reach deep feelings in people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/movies-are-more-likely-than-literature-to-reach-deep-feelings-in/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/norman-mailer/#itemlist", "name": "10 Knows Quotes By Norman Mailer", "numberOfItems": 10, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There are days when I'll wake up and think, oh, I've really been something. You know, it won't be the same without me. 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I can do a book of nonfiction work that way - just sign the contract and do the book because, provided the topic has some meaning for me, I know I can do it. But a novel is different. A novel is more like falling in love. You don't say, 'I'm going to fall in love next Tuesday, I'm going to begin my novel.' The novel has to come to you. It has to feel just like love.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Norman Mailer" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/it-s-very-bad-to-write-a-novel-by-act-of-will-i-can-do-a-book-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e5/norman-mailer-839_book_it-s-very-bad-to-write-a-novel-by-act-of_814381.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e5/norman-mailer-839_book_it-s-very-bad-to-write-a-novel-by-act-of_814381.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e5/norman-mailer-839_book_it-s-very-bad-to-write-a-novel-by-act-of_814381.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It's very bad to write a novel by act of will. 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