100 Top Quotes By Allen Ginsberg, The Author Of Howl And Other Poems
Allen Ginsberg was without a doubt one of the most respected Beat writers and acclaimed American poets of his generation. Born in 1926 New Jersey to a teacher and Russian expatriate father, Ginsberg went on to exert a prominent influence in post-World War II American culture. Throughout his literary career, Ginsberg strongly opposed militarism, economic materialism and sexual repression. He became one of the pivotal figures of the Beat Movement which included famous writers such as Jack Kerouac and William S Burroughs and was known for his unconventional views, and frequently rambunctious behaviour. He championed gay rights and anti-war movements and openly protested the Vietnam War. Ginsberg embodied various aspects of this counterculture, such as his views on drugs, hostility to bureaucracy and openness to Eastern religions. Despite his counterculture background, he was recognized as America’s prolific writer and artistic icon. His most famous works include the poem, ‘Howl’ wherein he denounced the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in US. His unconventional thoughts and counterculture belief is also visible on his quotes that perfectly describe his emotion and his thought. Check this section and find out some of the top quotes by Allen Ginsberg on life and living.
Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness.
I don't think there is any truth. There are only points of view.
The weight of the world is love. Under the burden of solitude, under the burden of dissatisfaction the weight,the weight we carry is love.
Concentrate on what you want to say to yourself and your friends. Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness. You say what you want to say when you don't care who's listening.
We're all golden sunflowers inside.
Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does.
Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture.
Our heads are round so thought can change direction
I know too much and not enough
Poetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known in private.
I really believe, or want to believe, really I am nuts, otherwise I'll never be sane.
Everything is holy! everybody's holy! everywhere is holy! everyday is in eternity! Everyman's an angel!
Democracy! Bah! When I hear that I reach for my feather boa!
If I had a soul I sold it for pretty words If I had a body I used it up spurting my essence Allen Ginsberg warns you dont follow my path to extinction
America I've given you all and now I'm nothing.
Everybody's serious but me.
We are great writers on the same dreadful typewriter
It isn't enough for your heart to break because everybody's heart is broken now.
I never dreamed the sea so deep, The earth so dark; so long my sleep, I have become another child. I wake to see the world go wild.
Just because I like to suck cock doesn't make me any less American than Jesse Helms.
What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!--and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?
Poets are damned… but see with the eyes of angels.
My own experience is that a certain kind of genius among students is best brought out in bed.
I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd.
With dreams, with drugs, with waking nightmares, alcohol and cock and endless balls
What sphinx of cement and aluminium bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination
To gain your own voice, forget about having it heard. Become a saint of your own province and your own consciousness.
Which way will the sunflower turn surrounded by millions of suns?
To gain your own voice you have to forget about having it heard.
America, why are your libraries full of tears?
