Why are we so full of restraint? Why do we not give in all directions? Is it fear of losing ourselves? Until we do lose ourselves there is no hope of finding ourselves. – Henry Miller
Back of every creation, supporting it like an arch, is faith. Enthusiasm is nothing: it comes and goes. But if one believes, then miracles occur. – Henry Miller
All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without benefit of experience. – Henry Miller
In the attempt to defeat death man has been inevitably obliged to defeat life, for the two are inextricably related. Life moves on to death, and to deny one is to deny the other. – Henry Miller
The Teutons have been singing the swan song ever since they entered the ranks of history. They have always confounded truth with death. – Henry Miller
The great work must inevitably be obscure, except to the very few, to those who like the author himself are initiated into the mysteries. Communication then is secondary: it is perpetuation which is important. For this only one good reader is necessary. – Henry Miller
When one is trying to do something beyond his known powers it is useless to seek the approval of friends. Friends are at their best in moments of defeat. – Henry Miller
Art is only a means to life, to the life more abundant. It is not in itself the life more abundant. It merely points the way, something which is overlooked not only by the public, but very often by the artist himself. In becoming an end it defeats itself. – Henry Miller
The waking mind is the least serviceable in the arts. – Henry Miller
An artist is always alone – if he is an artist. No, what the artist needs is loneliness. – Henry Miller
New York has a trip-hammer vitality which drives you insane with restlessness if you have no inner stabilizer. – Henry Miller
The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. – Henry Miller
The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware. – Henry Miller
The man who looks for security, even in the mind, is like a man who would chop off his limbs in order to have artificial ones which will give him no pain or trouble. – Henry Miller
Our own physical body possesses a wisdom which we who inhabit the body lack. We give it orders which make no sense. – Henry Miller
The artist is the opposite of the politically minded individual, the opposite of the reformer, the opposite of the idealist. The artist does not tinker with the universe, he recreates it out of his own experience and understanding of life. – Henry Miller
