--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Broadway lit up just as crazy as ever…" description: "\"“Broadway lit up just as crazy as ever, and the crowd thick as molasses. Just fling yourself into it like an ant and let yourself get pushed along. Eve..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffa/henry-miller-179_human-race_broadway-lit-up-just-as-crazy-as-ever-an_1700079.jpg" --- # Broadway lit up just as crazy as ever, and the crowd thick… ![“Broadway lit up just as crazy as ever, and the crowd thick as molasses. Just fling yourself into it like an ant and let yourself get pushed along. Everybody doing it, some for a good reason, and some for no reason at all. All this push and movement representing action, success, get ahead. Stop and…” quote by Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffa/henry-miller-179_human-race_broadway-lit-up-just-as-crazy-as-ever-an_1700079.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffa/henry-miller-179_human-race_broadway-lit-up-just-as-crazy-as-ever-an_1700079.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffa/henry-miller-179_human-race_broadway-lit-up-just-as-crazy-as-ever-an_1700079.jpg) > ““Broadway lit up just as crazy as ever, and the crowd thick as molasses. Just fling yourself into it like an ant and let yourself get pushed along. Everybody doing it, some for a good reason, and some for no reason at all. All this push and movement representing action, success, get ahead. Stop and look at shoes, or fancy shirts. The new fall overcoat, wedding rings at 98 cents a piece. Every other joint a food emporium. Everytime I hit that runway toward dinner hour, a fever of expectancy seized me. It's only a stretch of a few blocks from Time Square to 50th street, and when one says 'Broadway', that's all that's really meant. And it's really nothing, just a chicken run, and a lousy one at that. But at 7 in the evening, when everybody's rushing for a table, there is a sort of electrical crackle in the air. And your hair stands on end like antennae, and if you're receptive, you not only get every flash and flicker, but you get the statistical itch. The quid pro quo of the interactive, interstitial, ectoplasmatic quantum of bodies jostling in space like the stars which compose the Milky Way. Only, this is the gay white way. The top of the world with no roof above and not even a crack or a hole under your feet to fall through and say it's a lie. The absolute impersonality of it brings you to a pitch of warm human delirium, which makes you run forward like a blind nag, and wag your delirious ears. Everyone is so utterly, confoundedly not himself, that you become automatically the personification of the whole human race. Shaking hands with a thousand human hands, cackling with a thousand different human tongues, cursing, applauding, whistling, crooning, soliloquizing, orating, gesticulating, urinating, fecundating, wheedling, cajoling, whimpering, bartering, pimping, caterwauling, and so on and so forth. You are all the men who ever lived up until Moses, and beyond that, you are a woman buying a bird cage, or just a mouse trap.”” [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A vivid, chaotic portrait of Broadway’s bustling energy, where crowds, commerce, and sensory overload blur individuality into collective experience. **In simple terms:** Broadway’s hectic scene merges many people into a shared, intense moment. Key Takeaway Embrace the chaos, but stay aware of your own path. Themes urban life sensory overload collective identity commercialism artistic observation Mood electric intense reflective Type observational literary philosophical When to use this quote - nightlife - street observation - creative inspiration - social commentary Key Concepts existentialism modernism social critique Questions to Reflect On - How does the crowd influence your sense of self? - What can you learn from the energy of bustling places? A Different Perspective The metaphor may romanticize chaos, ignoring personal agency. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Actor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/actor/) [Broadway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/broadway/) [Broadway Lit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/broadway-lit-1141228/) [Broadway Really](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/broadway-really-1054979/) [Chicken Run](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chicken-run-224438/) [Crooning Soliloquizing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crooning-soliloquizing-1141229/) [Human race](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-race/) [Milky way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/milky-way/) [Quid pro quo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quid-pro-quo/) [Says Broadway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/says-broadway-1141227/) [Wedding Rings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wedding-rings/) ## Related quotes > [“I can give no adequate description of the Horror Camp in which my men and myself were to spend the next month of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imperial-war-museum/i-can-give-no-adequate-description-of-the-horror-camp-in-which-my-men/) [Imperial War Museum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imperial-war-museum/) > [My earlier days were all about playing, writing songs and producing songs. 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Everytime I hit that runway toward dinner hour, a fever of expectancy seized me. It's only a stretch of a few blocks from Time Square to 50th street, and when one says 'Broadway', that's all that's really meant. And it's really nothing, just a chicken run, and a lousy one at that. But at 7 in the evening, when everybody's rushing for a table, there is a sort of electrical crackle in the air. And your hair stands on end like antennae, and if you're receptive, you not only get every flash and flicker, but you get the statistical itch. The quid pro quo of the interactive, interstitial, ectoplasmatic quantum of bodies jostling in space like the stars which compose the Milky Way. Only, this is the gay white way. The top of the world with no roof above and not even a crack or a hole under your feet to fall through and say it's a lie. The absolute impersonality of it brings you to a pitch of warm human delirium, which makes you run forward like a blind nag, and wag your delirious ears. Everyone is so utterly, confoundedly not himself, that you become automatically the personification of the whole human race. Shaking hands with a thousand human hands, cackling with a thousand different human tongues, cursing, applauding, whistling, crooning, soliloquizing, orating, gesticulating, urinating, fecundating, wheedling, cajoling, whimpering, bartering, pimping, caterwauling, and so on and so forth. 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