For more: Jack Kerouac: Essentials of Spontaneous Prose.

“There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.”

~

Jack Kerouac is, in my opinion, the most iconic and inspirational writer of all time.

His ideology aligns almost perfectly with mine, with his leaning towards the traditions of Buddhism, his outside the box thinking, his wanderlust, his rebellion, his free thinking, his fascination with observing people and society, and his often idealistic views on how he perceived the world around him.

Kerouac continues to influence and greatly inspire generations today, despite his death being over 45 years ago.

The following are a few of his quotes that have affected me deeply and also the ones that I most strongly resonate with. I can almost touch the passion he felt for life through reading his words:

“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.”

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”

“I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till I drop. This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.”

“Live, travel, adventure, bless and don’t be sorry.”

“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”

“My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.”

“I don’t know, I don’t care, and it doesn’t make any difference.”

“Forgive everyone for your own sins and be sure to tell them you love them which you do.”

“Happy. Just in my swim shorts, barefooted, wild-haired, in the red fire dark, singing, swigging wine, spitting, jumping, running—that’s the way to live. All alone and free in the soft sands of the beach by the sigh of the sea out there, with the Ma-Wink fallopian virgin warm stars selecting on the outer channel fluid belly waters. And if your cans are red-hot and you can’t hold them in your hands, just use good old railroad gloves, that’s all.”

“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.”

And the one that resounds in me the most…

“So therefore I dedicate myself, to my art, my sleep, my dreams, my labours, my suffrances, my loneliness, my unique madness, my endless absorption and hunger because I cannot dedicate myself to any fellow being.”

~

Relephant:

10 Things I’ve Learned from Jack Kerouac.

~

Author: Alex Myles

Editor: Travis May

Image: Wikipedia