--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If I'd found out that Norman Mailer liked…" description: "\"If I'd found out that Norman Mailer liked me. I'd have killed myself.\" — Ray Bradbury" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a99/ray-bradbury-75_found_if-i-d-found-out-that-norman-mailer-like_1015158.jpg" --- # If I'd found out that Norman Mailer liked me. I'd have… ![“If I'd found out that Norman Mailer liked me. I'd have killed myself.” quote by Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a99/ray-bradbury-75_found_if-i-d-found-out-that-norman-mailer-like_1015158.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a99/ray-bradbury-75_found_if-i-d-found-out-that-norman-mailer-like_1015158.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a99/ray-bradbury-75_found_if-i-d-found-out-that-norman-mailer-like_1015158.jpg) > “If I'd found out that Norman Mailer liked me. I'd have killed myself.” [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. If Norman Mailer had liked me, I would have been devastated. **In simple terms:** Fear of rejection from admired figures. Key Takeaway Accept that admiration is not guaranteed. Themes celebrity rejection selfworth Mood melancholic introspective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - career aspirations - fan culture - personal identity Key Concepts psychology social dynamics Questions to Reflect On - Who do you admire and why? - How do you handle disappointment? A Different Perspective Self-worth shouldn't hinge on external validation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Found](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/found/) [Liked](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liked/) [Liked Killed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liked-killed-2229828/) [Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mailer-116031/) [Mailer Liked](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mailer-liked-2229827/) [Me](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/me/) [Myself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/myself/) [Norman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/norman/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/norman-mailer-1071027/) [Out](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/out/) ## Related quotes > [How wonderful it was to sit on a set with Norman Mailer and get to know him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-fisher/how-wonderful-it-was-to-sit-on-a-set-with-norman-mailer-and-get-to/) [Frances Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-fisher/) > [It's absolutely philistine not to recognize what a great book 'An American Dream' is. Norman Mailer is his own worst enemy, and if you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/it-s-absolutely-philistine-not-to-recognize-what-a-great-book-an/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) > [Norman Mailer records in his recent essays and public appearances his perfecting of himself as a virile instrument of letters; he is perpetually in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/norman-mailer-records-in-his-recent-essays-and-public-appearances-his/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [ \[Norman Mailer\] is against masturbation, he's against homosexuality. He believes that murder is essentially sexual. I think he's rather an anthology of all the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/norman-mailer-is-against-masturbation-he-s-against-homosexuality-he/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [“If I’d found out that Norman Mailer liked me, I’d have killed myself. I think he was too hung up. I’m glad Kurt Vonnegut…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/if-i-d-found-out-that-norman-mailer-liked-me-i-d-have-killed-myself-i/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“In the South of Spain, one could look to vice as quickly as to virtue for a sense of tradition.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/in-the-south-of-spain-one-could-look-to-vice-as-quickly-as-to-virtue/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [The whole book experience was a look into another world, the world of Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-kramer/the-whole-book-experience-was-a-look-into-another-world-the-world-of/) [Jerry Kramer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-kramer/) > [It was at a vividly bad time in Norman Mailer's life that I met him, and a sort of water-treading time in mine. He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-cavett/it-was-at-a-vividly-bad-time-in-norman-mailer-s-life-that-i-met-him/) [Dick Cavett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-cavett/) > [How could you not love Norman Mailer? He was a total chauvinist, but also so vulnerable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-steinem/how-could-you-not-love-norman-mailer-he-was-a-total-chauvinist-but/) [Gloria Steinem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-steinem/) > [“I heard from clear across the city, over the Hudson in the Jersey yards, one fierce whistle of a locomotive which took me to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/i-heard-from-clear-across-the-city-over-the-hudson-in-the-jersey/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [Somebody like Mailer brings to that role everything that he stands for. The types of characters that I gravitate towards, the types of icons,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-barney/somebody-like-mailer-brings-to-that-role-everything-that-he-stands/) [Matthew Barney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-barney/) > [Mailer's Law: A thing either gets better or it costs more to run it the way it was.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/mailer-s-law-a-thing-either-gets-better-or-it-costs-more-to-run-it/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [My father, Norman Mailer, expected a lot from us and he really pushed us and you know one of his favorite lines was, "If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-buffalo-mailer/my-father-norman-mailer-expected-a-lot-from-us-and-he-really-pushed/) [John Buffalo Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-buffalo-mailer/) > [I fell in love with Norman Mailer's 'Of a Fire on the Moon', a description of the 1969 moon landing and the society that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/i-fell-in-love-with-norman-mailer-s-of-a-fire-on-the-moon-a/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [What had brought me to New York in the autumn of 1972 was a letter of recommendation written by Norman Mailer, the author of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-wolcott/what-had-brought-me-to-new-york-in-the-autumn-of-1972-was-a-letter-of/) [James Wolcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-wolcott/) ## More by Ray Bradbury > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [You feed yourself. Make sure you have all the information, whether it's aesthetic, scientific, mathematical, I don't care what it is. Then you walk…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/you-feed-yourself-make-sure-you-have-all-the-information-whether-it-s/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [Do you ever read any of the books you burn?" He laughed. "That's against the law!" "Oh. 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It’s a very bad place for writers because the teachers always think they know more than you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/you-can-t-learn-to-write-in-college-it-s-a-very-bad-place-for-writers/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [We're going to become the martians when we land there. When we explore and build communities, we become the martians. That's a wonderful destiny…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/we-re-going-to-become-the-martians-when-we-land-there-when-we-explore/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. ... I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/i-wish-you-a-wrestling-match-with-your-creative-muse-that-will-last-a/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [The library is the biggest cracker box factory in the world. The more you eat, the more you want.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/the-library-is-the-biggest-cracker-box-factory-in-the-world-the-more/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [We travel for romance, we travel for architecture, and we travel to be lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/we-travel-for-romance-we-travel-for-architecture-and-we-travel-to-be/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [I spent three days a week for 10 years educating myself in the public library, and it's better than college. 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