100 Great Ken Kesey Quotes That Help You Develop A Different Perspective
Novelist Kenneth Elton Kesey, fondly remembered as 'Ken' was an important link between 1950's Beat Generation and 1960's Hippie Culture. The world remembers him as a counter-cultural icon, novelist and essayist that ushered the American society into an era of psychedelic drugs. He compiled his personal experiences in his first novel 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest'. It was followed by more incredible works like 'Genesis West', 'Sometimes a Great Nation' and 'Demon Box' that captured his beautiful transformation from a revolutionary novelist to the founder of hippie generation. His book 'Cuckoo' was an account of abuses inflicted by the system on individuals. It was later enacted as a movie directed by Milos Forman. Though Kesey was not pleased with the idea, apparently the audience liked it. The movie became a hit in America, subsequently winning five Academy Awards. Kesey bonded with like-minded individuals to form "Merry Prankster", a group that helped promote liberal ideas. The group set out on a wild adventure, conducting Acid tests and treating unsuspecting viewers with The Warlock band's performances. He was put in jail for illegal possession of drugs. Following this, he spent a quite family life as an author and teacher until his death. We have collected his most famous quotes and thoughts from his most famous 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest' and other writings. Presenting a collection of some great Ken Kesey quotes about love, life, failure, success, humor, truth, and much more.
Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing.
All I know is this: nobody's very big in the first place, and it looks to me like everybody spends their whole life tearing everybody else down.
But it's the truth even if it didn't happen.
You can't really be strong until you can see a funny side to things.
He knows that you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy.
If you don't watch it people will force you one way or the other, into doing what they think you should do, or into just being mule-stubborn and doing the opposite out of spite.
To hell with facts! We need stories!
That ain't me, that ain't my face. It wasn't even me when I was trying to be that face. I wasn't even really me them; I was just being the way I looked, the way people wanted.
What do you think you are, for Chrissake, crazy or somethin'? Well you're not! You're not! You're no crazier than the average asshole out walkin' around on the streets and that's it.
The stars up close to the moon were pale; they got brighter and braver the farther they got out of the circle of light ruled by the giant moon
They can't tell so much about you if you got your eyes closed.
Plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom.
Rules? PISS ON YOUR FUCKING RULES!
He Who Marches Out Of Step Hears Another Drum
No, my friend. We are lunatics from the hospital up the highway, psycho-ceramics, the cracked pots of mankind. Would you like me to decipher a Rorschach for you?
Good writin' ain't necessarily good readin'.
What makes people so impatient is what I can't figure; all the guy had to do was wait.
People think love is an emotion. Love is good sense.
You had a choice: you could either strain and look at things that appeared in front of you in the fog, painful as it might be, or you could relax and lose yourself
But he won’t let the pain blot out the humor no more’n he’ll let the humor blot out the pain.
I don't think you fully understand the public, my friend; in this country, when something is out of order, then the quickest way to get it fixed is the best way.
I listened to them fade away till all I could hear was my memory of the sound.
He's the sort of guy that gets a laugh out of people.
He who walks out of step hears another drum.
He knows that there's no better way in the world to aggravate somebody who's trying to make it hard for you than by acting like you're not bothered.
To Vik Lovell who told me dragons did not exist, then led me to their lairs ...
We can count how many seeds are in the apple, but not how many apples are in the seed.
He knew you can't really be strong until you can see a funny side of things.
The secret of being a top-notch con man is being able to know what the mark wants, and how to make him think he's getting it.
People don't want other people to get high, because if you get high, you might see the falsity of the fabric of the society we live in.
