Best Jack Kerouac Quotes

Jack Kerouac Quotes About  On the Road, Climb that Mountain, Love, Life, Death, Goodreads, Travel, Mountain, Stars, Dharma Bums & Nature! Jean Louis Lebris de Kerouac, better known by his pen name Jack Kerouac, was an American poet and novelist. Kerouac was a pioneering writer of the 1950s and 1960s, and he was regarded as one of the idols of the ‘Beats Generation,’ which challenged traditional narratives in American culture. Born on March 12, 1922, in Massachusetts. Kerouac attended various colleges and universities, including the Horace Mann School in New York City, Columbia University, and The New School.

In 1942, Kerouac enlisted in the U.S. Merchant Marine, and a year later, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy—he spent just eight days of active service before being released on mental grounds. ‘The Town and the City,’ his first book, was published (Harcourt Brace, 1950). Even though Kerouac completed the mostly autobiographical book in April 1951, it did not appear in publication until 1957.

At this time, Kerouac wrote many autobiographical books, such as The Subterraneans (Grove Press, 1958) and Doctor Sax (Grove Press, 1959). Kerouac relocated to Orlando, Florida, in July of 1957 as he was awaiting the publication of On the Road later that year. The New York Times published an article in which Kerouac was acclaimed as a representative of a new generation. The novel’s popularity made Kerouac recognizable in the United States, and his friendships with Ginsberg, Burroughs, and Gregory Corso helped solidify the Beat Generation’s impact.

Despite the fact that he is most known for his books, Jack Kerouac is also connected with the Beat movement’s poetry, mainly spoken word. According to Kerouac, he aspired to be “regarded as a jazz poet blowing a lengthy blues at an afternoon jazz session on Sunday.” On October 21, 1969, he passed away.

Best Jack Kerouac Quotes

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

2. “Let the mind beware, that though the flesh be bugged, the circumstances of existence are pretty glorious.” ― Jack Kerouac

3. “One man practicing kindness in the wilderness is worth all the temples this world pulls.” ― Jack Kerouac

4. “Finding Nirvana is like locating silence.” ― Jack Kerouac

5. “It all ends in tears, anyway.” ― Jack Kerouac

6. “Pain or love or danger makes you real again….” ― Jack Kerouac

7. “The silence was an intense roar.” ― Jack Kerouac

8. “I felt free and therefore I was free.” ― Jack Kerouac

9. “Believe that the world is an ethereal flower, and ye live.” ― Jack Kerouac

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

11. “Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” ― Jack Kerouac

12. “The best teacher is experience and not through someone’s distorted point of view.” ― Jack Kerouac

13. “I was surprised, as always, by how easy the act of leaving was, and how good it felt. The world was suddenly rich with possibility.” ― Jack Kerouac

14. “There was nothing to talk about anymore. The only thing to do was go.” ― Jack Kerouac

15. “The road must eventually lead to the whole world.” ― Jack Kerouac

16. “I was suddenly left with nothing in my hands but a handful of crazy stars.” ― Jack Kerouac

17. “No matter what you do it’s bound to be a waste of time in the end so you might as well go mad.” ― Jack Kerouac

18. “Life is life, and kind is kind.” ― Jack Kerouac

19. “The only truth is music.” ― Jack Kerouac

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

21. “Happiness consists in realizing it is all a great strange dream.” ― Jack Kerouac

22. “Don’t use the phone. People are never ready to answer it. Use poetry.” ― Jack Kerouac

23. “Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.” ― Jack Kerouac

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

25. “I’m going to marry my novels and have little short stories for children.” ― Jack Kerouac