Crude thoughts and fierce forces are my state. I do not know who I am. Nor what I was. I cannot hear a sound. Pain is near that will be like no pain felt before.
Norman MailerRead
No heart is so hard as the timid heart.
Interpretation
Timidity often leads to a hardened heart, lacking the warmth of courage.
In this quote, Norman Mailer suggests that those who are timid and unwilling to face their fears may develop an emotional hardness. This hardening stems from a refusal to engage with the world and take risks, leading to a lack of emotional depth and connection with others.
In practice
This quote can be used during a motivational speech about overcoming fear.
Crude thoughts and fierce forces are my state. I do not know who I am. Nor what I was. I cannot hear a sound. Pain is near that will be like no pain felt before.
I no longer gave a sick dog's drop for the wisdom, the reliability and the authority of the public's literary mind, those creeps and old ladies of vested reviewing.
There's nothing glorious about being a professional. . . . Professionalism probably comes down to being able to work on a bad day.
The natural role of twentieth-century man is anxiety.
Over-certified adjectives are the mark of most best-seller writing
At bottom, I mean profoundly at bottom, the FBI has nothing to do with Communism, it has nothing to do with catching criminals, it has nothing to do with the Mafia, the syndicate, it has nothing to do with trust-busting, it has nothing to do with interstate commerce, it has nothing to do with anything but serving as a church for the mediocre. A high church for the true mediocre.
I was always driven by the idea that if people ever found out about who I was then the stature I created for myself within rugby would have to be as relevant as the fact I was gay. It was always the driving factor to be the strongest, the fastest, the most skilful.
The concessions of the weak are the concessions of fear.
Go, stranger, and tell the Lacedaemonians that here we lie, obedient to their commands.
My dad was in a hospital for months. The doctors told my dad he would never be able to walk again. My dad beat all the odds. He came back and was able to walk and start boxing again. He went to No. 1 in the world at welterweight to fight for the world title. But he never had his chance to fight for a world title.
Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.
The best way to develop courage is to set a goal and achieve it, make a promise and keep it.
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