--- title: "1 Wasted Years Quotes By Henry Miller" description: "1 Wasted Years quotes by Henry Miller. Plus more from Henry Miller and more Wasted Years sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba2/henry-miller-179_failure_if-it-was-a-mistake-not-to-finish-school_1045824.jpg" --- > [“If it was a mistake not to finish school (it wasn't!), it was an even worse mistake to go to work. ("Work! The word was so painful he couldn't bring himself to pronounce it," says a character in one of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/if-it-was-a-mistake-not-to-finish-school-it-wasn-t-it-was-an-even/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba2/henry-miller-179_failure_if-it-was-a-mistake-not-to-finish-school_1045824.jpg) ## More by Henry Miller > [“I reached out for something to attach myself to—and I found nothing. But in reaching out, in the effort to grasp, to attach myself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/i-reached-out-for-something-to-attach-myself-to-and-i-found-nothing/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [“I saw the errors I had made and assumed full responsibility for everything.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/i-saw-the-errors-i-had-made-and-assumed-full-responsibility-for/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [The monstrous thing is not that men have created roses out of this dung heap, but that, for some reason or other, they should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/the-monstrous-thing-is-not-that-men-have-created-roses-out-of-this/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [They never opened the door which leads to the soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/they-never-opened-the-door-which-leads-to-the-soul/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [“(...)I decided to let myself drift with the tide, to make not the least resistance to fate, no matter in what form it presented…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/i-decided-to-let-myself-drift-with-the-tide-to-make-not-the-least/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [“If it be knowledge or wisdom one is seeking, then one had better go direct to the source. And the source is not the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/if-it-be-knowledge-or-wisdom-one-is-seeking-then-one-had-better-go/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [“In the egocentric prism the helpless victim is walled in by the very light which he refracts. The ego dies in its own glass…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/in-the-egocentric-prism-the-helpless-victim-is-walled-in-by-the-very/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [“When one spends what he has on himself, when one has a thoroughly good time with his own money, people are apt to say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/when-one-spends-what-he-has-on-himself-when-one-has-a-thoroughly-good/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [Paint what you like and die happy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/paint-what-you-like-and-die-happy/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [She may be lying in bed reading a book, she may be making love with a prize fighter, or she may be running like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/she-may-be-lying-in-bed-reading-a-book-she-may-be-making-love-with-a/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [“And no one sets about saving the world unless he has first experienced the miracle of personal salvation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/and-no-one-sets-about-saving-the-world-unless-he-has-first/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [“He looks about the room at the few sticks of furniture, at the dirty bed sheets and the wash basin with the dirty water…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/he-looks-about-the-room-at-the-few-sticks-of-furniture-at-the-dirty/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [“Since then, of course, I have discovered what every madman in Paris discovers sooner of later; that there are no ready made infernos for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/since-then-of-course-i-have-discovered-what-every-madman-in-paris/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [“Looking back upon my career, I see myself as a person capable of undertaking almost any task, any vocation. It was the monotony and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/looking-back-upon-my-career-i-see-myself-as-a-person-capable-of/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [“The word in your mouth is anarchy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/the-word-in-your-mouth-is-anarchy/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wasted-years/henry-miller/#itemlist", "name": "1 Wasted Years Quotes By Henry Miller", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“If it was a mistake not to finish school (it wasn't!), it was an even worse mistake to go to work. (\"Work! The word was so painful he couldn't bring himself to pronounce it,\" says a character in one of Cossery's books.) Until I was almost eighteen I had know freedom, a relative freedom, which is more than most people ever get to know. (It included \"freedom of speech,\" which has hung over into my writing.) Then, like an idiot, I entered the lists. Overnight, as it were, the bit was put in my mouth, I was saddled, and the cruel rowels were dug into my tender flanks. It didn't take long to realize what a shithouse I had let myself into. Every new job I took was a step further in the direction of \"murder, death and blight.\" I think of them still as prisons, whorehouses, lunatic asylums: the Atlas Portland Cement Co., the Federal Reserve Bank, the Bureau of Economic Research, the Charles Williams Mail Order House, the Western Union Telegraph Co., etc. To think that I wasted ten years of my life serving these anonymous lords and masters! That look of rapture in Pookie's eyes, that look of supreme admiration which I reserved for such as Eddie Carney, Lester Reardon, Johnny Paul: it was gone, lost, buried. It returned only when, much later, I reached the point where I was completely cut off, thoroughly destitute, utterly abandoned. When I became the nameless one, wandering as a mendicant through the streets of my own home town. Then I began to see again, to look with eyes of wonder, eyes of love, into the eyes of my fellow-man.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Henry Miller" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/if-it-was-a-mistake-not-to-finish-school-it-wasn-t-it-was-an-even/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba2/henry-miller-179_failure_if-it-was-a-mistake-not-to-finish-school_1045824.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba2/henry-miller-179_failure_if-it-was-a-mistake-not-to-finish-school_1045824.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba2/henry-miller-179_failure_if-it-was-a-mistake-not-to-finish-school_1045824.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If it was a mistake not to finish school (it wasn't!), it was an even worse mistake to go to work. (\"Work!…” — Henry Miller", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wasted-years/henry-miller/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wasted-years/henry-miller/", "name": "Wasted Years Quotes by Henry Miller", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wasted-years/henry-miller/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba2/henry-miller-179_failure_if-it-was-a-mistake-not-to-finish-school_1045824.jpg" }, "description": "1 Wasted Years quotes by Henry Miller. Plus more from Henry Miller and more Wasted Years sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wasted-years/henry-miller/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wasted-years/henry-miller/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Wasted Years", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wasted-years/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Henry Miller", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wasted-years/henry-miller/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```