Jack Kerouac on People

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”

~ Jack Kerouac, born Jean-Louis Kerouac (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), On the Road

Source: American Society of Authors and Writers, It Happened in History: Jack Kerouac

 

Some Fun Quotes from Science Fiction Writers

Reblogged with permission from: Some fun quotes from science fiction writers by  Fr. Ernesto Obregon

Clarke’s Three Laws

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

— Arthur C. Clarke

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Corollary to Clarke’s First Law – When, however, the lay public rallies round an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervor and emotion—the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right.

— Isaac Asimov

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Corollary to Clarke’s Third Law – Any sufficiently rigorously defined magic is indistinguishable from technology.

— Larry Niven

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Corollary to Niven’s Law – There is a technical, literary term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is “idiot.”

— S. M. Stirling

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Clarke’s Second Law of Egodynamics – For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert.

— Arthur C. Clarke

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Finagle’s corollary to Murphy’s Law – Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment.

— John W. Campbell, Jr.

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Hanlon’s Razor – Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

— Robert J. Hanlon

[Note, however, that this law is considered a later development of Ingham’s Maxim — Many journalists have fallen for the conspiracy theory of government. I do assure you that they would produce more accurate work if they adhered to the cock-up theory. —Sir Bernard Ingham]

Edgar Allan Poe on the Relationship Between Madness and Intelligence

“Science has not yet taught us if madness is or is not the sublimity of the intelligence.”

~ Edgar Allan Poe

Source: BrainyQuote

Cornelia Funke on Lunacy

“So what? All writers are lunatics!”

~ Cornelia Funke, Inkspell

Source: GoodReads

E.L. Doctorow on the Insanity of Writing

“Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.”
~ E.L. Doctorow

Source: Welcome to The Quote Garden! Quotations about Writing