Anthony Marais Quotes

Proximity to reality induces feelings of emptiness, horror and depression. Do not approach it alone.

~ Anthony Marais

We cannot escape the longing, no matter what life we choose. We’re either longing for people, places or times gone by, which are essentially the same things: memories. And, whether or not we travel, the older we get, the more memories we collect. Nostalgia is simply the result of aging and liking the life you’ve lived. Be happy you can feel it—it’s a good sign.

~ Anthony Marais

Literature is the product of a deep-seated need for honesty. Hence, those who lie most are struck most deeply by it, and those who are honest have no need for it.

~ Anthony Marais

We are not born with a need for knowledge, but a hunger for it. Eve bit the apple and it has been gluttony ever since.

~ Anthony Marais

It is said that the depressive has a clearer view of reality than does the euphoric. Perhaps, but the euphoric has a clearer view of life.

~ Anthony Marais

Writers are liars trying to come clean. That’s why the best ones are the most tragic.

~ Anthony Marais

Writers are compulsive liars desperately trying to tell themselves the truth.

~ Anthony Marais

Is it not ignorance that we share? A lie takes two. The truth we find alone.

~ Anthony Marais

Just because one is born in sin is no reason to brag about it.

~ Anthony Marais

Many humans make the mistake of fighting for race when it’s the species driving our genes. And there is only one weapon to fight for species: the brain.

~ Anthony Marais

Reflection is nothing more than what it sounds, and pondering one’s own life is about as productive as talking to one’s image in a mirror: both acts are egocentric and neither produces a dialog. People who talk to themselves in public are not self-actualized; they're crazy.

~ Anthony Marais

Those who do not preach life but live it do not smile to the lily near the bank, they look for stones and hang on.

~ Anthony Marais

If one chews a problem over long enough, it becomes apparent that the jaw is aching, and what started as weighing heavy on the heart ends up a pain in the neck.

~ Anthony Marais

Those who jump out of airplanes do not love life—they deny it, which, of course, is not done without a certain naughty exhilaration. Like children they relish tugging on the apron of Mother Nature, as long as she doesn’t turn and slap them.

~ Anthony Marais

Race should be seen in one way, and one way only: on your marks, get set, go!

~ Anthony Marais

Physiologically, the union of two opposites is a pleasurable affair. Why should the psyche be any different?

~ Anthony Marais

It’s not words, but years we should be editing. Remember: time spent on bad art is a form of redundancy, doing the same thing twice is a form of tautology, and wasting precious moments complaining about life is a form of pleonasm. We should all learn to live our lives concisely.

~ Anthony Marais

Contemplation and writing demand solitude, which leads to a sorry feeling of isolation and detachment. Writers try to call their loneliness genius, and the world believes them most of the time.

~ Anthony Marais

Infatuation is measured in pleasure. Love is measured in pain. Behold the value of pain!

~ Anthony Marais

Nothing distresses the civilized person like unfettered nature. The Grand Canyon seen from behind the railing is indeed a splendid sight, but as soon as the desert reclaims your golf course that is another matter altogether.

~ Anthony Marais

Wisdom doesn’t come only from the experience you have had, but from the experience you have chosen not to have.

~ Anthony Marais

We are all born wise. Unfortunately, we all don’t die that way.

~ Anthony Marais

If an artist wants to be original, he should not look to art for inspiration, for art seeks its model in life, not art—and only life is rich enough to simulate originality.

~ Anthony Marais

Words are a means to an end. Those who chase after them inevitably fail to reach that end.

~ Anthony Marais

There is nothing more blinding than having seen the light, and nothing more tiresome than sharing it.

~ Anthony Marais

To conceive of a god in one’s image is already quite a feat for inflated egos. To imagine, however, that this likeness has chosen your generation amongst the thousands for ending the party is to bring the egocentrism to new heights.

~ Anthony Marais