--- title: "10 Long Quotes By Norman Mailer" description: "10 Long quotes by Norman Mailer. Plus more from Norman Mailer and more Long sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/107/norman-mailer-839_astronomy_when-a-novel-comes-it-s-a-grace-somethin_3154306.png" --- > [When a novel comes, it's a grace. Something in the cosmos has forgiven you long enough so that you can start.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/when-a-novel-comes-it-s-a-grace-something-in-the-cosmos-has-forgiven/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/107/norman-mailer-839_astronomy_when-a-novel-comes-it-s-a-grace-somethin_3154306.png) > [The sense of a long last night over civilization is back again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/the-sense-of-a-long-last-night-over-civilization-is-back-again/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a8d/norman-mailer-839_aspirin_the-sense-of-a-long-last-night-over-civi_409054.png) > [The sense of a long last night over civilization is back again; it has perhaps not been here so intensely in thirty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/the-sense-of-a-long-last-night-over-civilization-is-back-again-it-has/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b31/norman-mailer-839_back-again_the-sense-of-a-long-last-night-over-civi_1887611.jpg) > [While I'm working on a book, I rarely read anything more than The New York Times. Which may have the long-term effect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/while-i-m-working-on-a-book-i-rarely-read-anything-more-than-the-new/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a0c/norman-mailer-839_book_while-i-m-working-on-a-book-i-rarely-rea_1036848.png) > [Decade after decade, artists came to paint the light of Provincetown, and comparisons were made to the lagoons of Venice and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/decade-after-decade-artists-came-to-paint-the-light-of-provincetown/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2b/norman-mailer-839_art_decade-after-decade-artists-came-to-pain_845930.png) > [There is one expanding horror in American life. It is that our long odyssey toward liberty, democracy and freedom-for-all may be achieved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/there-is-one-expanding-horror-in-american-life-it-is-that-our-long/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/98c/norman-mailer-839_america_there-is-one-expanding-horror-in-america_1963635.jpg) > [Indeed the early history of rocket design could be read as the simple desire to get the rocket to function long enough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/indeed-the-early-history-of-rocket-design-could-be-read-as-the-simple/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15d/norman-mailer-839_blood_indeed-the-early-history-of-rocket-desig_3051475.png) > [We divorced ourselves from the materials of the earth, the rock, the wood, the iron ore; we looked to new materials which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/we-divorced-ourselves-from-the-materials-of-the-earth-the-rock-the/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a39/norman-mailer-839_aliens_we-divorced-ourselves-from-the-materials_880092.png) > [Three miles long and two streets wide, the town curls around the bay ... a gaudy run with Mediterranean splashes of color,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/three-miles-long-and-two-streets-wide-the-town-curls-around-the-bay-a/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cf/norman-mailer-839_aphrodisiac_three-miles-long-and-two-streets-wide-th_1128212.png) > [We are close to dead. There are faces and bodies like gorged maggots on the dance floor, on the highway, in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/we-are-close-to-dead-there-are-faces-and-bodies-like-gorged-maggots/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/norman-mailer-839_air_we-are-close-to-dead-there-are-faces-and_338502.jpg) ## Other authors on Long ## 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/long/norman-mailer/#itemlist", "name": "10 Long Quotes By Norman Mailer", "numberOfItems": 10, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When a novel comes, it's a grace. 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It is that our long odyssey toward liberty, democracy and freedom-for-all may be achieved in such a way that utopia remains forever closed, and we live in freedom and hell, debased of style, not individual from one another, void of courage, our fear rationalized away.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Norman Mailer" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/there-is-one-expanding-horror-in-american-life-it-is-that-our-long/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/98c/norman-mailer-839_america_there-is-one-expanding-horror-in-america_1963635.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/98c/norman-mailer-839_america_there-is-one-expanding-horror-in-america_1963635.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/98c/norman-mailer-839_america_there-is-one-expanding-horror-in-america_1963635.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is one expanding horror in American life. 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Most early debacles were so benighted that rocket engineers could have been forgiven for daubing the blood of a virgin goat on the orifice of the firing chamber.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Norman Mailer" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/indeed-the-early-history-of-rocket-design-could-be-read-as-the-simple/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15d/norman-mailer-839_blood_indeed-the-early-history-of-rocket-desig_3051475.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15d/norman-mailer-839_blood_indeed-the-early-history-of-rocket-desig_3051475.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15d/norman-mailer-839_blood_indeed-the-early-history-of-rocket-desig_3051475.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Indeed the early history of rocket design could be read as the simple desire to get the rocket to function…” — Norman Mailer", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We divorced ourselves from the materials of the earth, the rock, the wood, the iron ore; we looked to new materials which were cooked in vats, long complex derivatives of urine which we called plastic. They had no odor of the living, ... their touch was alien to nature. ... [They proliferated] like the matastases of cancer cells.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Norman Mailer" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/we-divorced-ourselves-from-the-materials-of-the-earth-the-rock-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a39/norman-mailer-839_aliens_we-divorced-ourselves-from-the-materials_880092.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a39/norman-mailer-839_aliens_we-divorced-ourselves-from-the-materials_880092.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a39/norman-mailer-839_aliens_we-divorced-ourselves-from-the-materials_880092.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We divorced ourselves from the materials of the earth, the rock, the wood, the iron ore; we looked to new…” — Norman Mailer", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Three miles long and two streets wide, the town curls around the bay ... a gaudy run with Mediterranean splashes of color, crowded steep-pitched roofs, fishing piers and fishing boats whose stench of mackerel and gasoline is as aphrodisiac to the sensuous nose as the clean bar-whisky smell of a nightclub where call girls congregate.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Norman Mailer" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/three-miles-long-and-two-streets-wide-the-town-curls-around-the-bay-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cf/norman-mailer-839_aphrodisiac_three-miles-long-and-two-streets-wide-th_1128212.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cf/norman-mailer-839_aphrodisiac_three-miles-long-and-two-streets-wide-th_1128212.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cf/norman-mailer-839_aphrodisiac_three-miles-long-and-two-streets-wide-th_1128212.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Three miles long and two streets wide, the town curls around the bay ... a gaudy run with Mediterranean…” — Norman Mailer", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We are close to dead. There are faces and bodies like gorged maggots on the dance floor, on the highway, in the city, in the stadium; they are a host of chemical machines who swallow the product of chemical factories, aspirin, preservatives, stimulant, relaxant, and breathe out their chemical wastes into a polluted air. The sense of a long last night over civilization is back again.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Norman Mailer" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/we-are-close-to-dead-there-are-faces-and-bodies-like-gorged-maggots/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/norman-mailer-839_air_we-are-close-to-dead-there-are-faces-and_338502.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/norman-mailer-839_air_we-are-close-to-dead-there-are-faces-and_338502.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/norman-mailer-839_air_we-are-close-to-dead-there-are-faces-and_338502.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We are close to dead. 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