not for nothing had Lenin pointed out that there were ten years which passed like an uneventful day, but there was also the revolutionary day which was like ten years.
Norman Mailer The Armies of the Night:...
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In "The Armies of the Night," Norman Mailer reflects on the nature of history and time, drawing on a thought from Lenin that highlights the disparity in how we perceive time during periods of historical significance versus mundane periods. Mailer suggests that while a decade can feel uneventful, a single day filled with revolution can seem to stretch across years. This concept emphasizes the intensity and impact of transformative events in human history.

This exploration illustrates that historical moments, particularly those filled with conflict and change, can alter our sense of time. Mailer's writing reveals how significant events can compress years of experience into a single day while ordinary times can blur together and feel like a single, uneventful span. Through this lens, Mailer captures the essence of what it means to live through pivotal moments in history.

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Other quotes in The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel, the Novel as History

For guilt was the existential edge of sex. Without guilt, sex was meaningless.
Norman Mailer The Armies of the Night:...
For guilt was the existential edge of sex. Without guilt, sex was meaningless.
There was a way, of course, to deal with the papers. If the ears of the reporters were geared to capture accurately the mediocre remarks of mediocre men, then one had to look for simple salient statements, so poetically bare, but so irreducible, that they would stick in the reporter's mind like a thorn.
Norman Mailer The Armies of the Night:...
There was a way, of course, to deal with the papers. If the ears of the reporters were geared to capture accurately the mediocre remarks of mediocre men, then one had to look for simple salient statements, so poetically bare, but so irreducible, that they would stick in the reporter's mind like a thorn.
One's own literary work was the only answer to the war in Vietnam.
Norman Mailer The Armies of the Night:...
One's own literary work was the only answer to the war in Vietnam.
You, Lowell, beloved poet of many, what do you know of the dirt and the dark deliveries of the necessary? What do you know of dignity hard-achieved, and dignity lost through innocence, and dignity lost by sacrifice for a cause one cannot name. What do you know about getting fat against your will, and turning into a clown of an arriviste baron when you would rather be an eagle or a count, or rarest of all, some natural aristocrat from these damned democratic states.
Norman Mailer The Armies of the Night:...
You, Lowell, beloved poet of many, what do you know of the dirt and the dark deliveries of the necessary? What do you know of dignity hard-achieved, and dignity lost through innocence, and dignity lost by sacrifice for a cause one cannot name. What do you know about getting fat against your will, and turning into a clown of an arriviste baron when you would rather be an eagle or a count, or rarest of all, some natural aristocrat from these damned democratic states.
Once History inhabits a crazy house, egotism may be the last tool left to History.
Norman Mailer The Armies of the Night:...
Once History inhabits a crazy house, egotism may be the last tool left to History.
Arrayed against them as hard-core troops: an elite! the Freud-ridden embers of Marxism, good old American anxiety strata-the urban middle-class with their proliferated monumental adenoidal resentments, their secret slavish love for the oncoming hegemony of the computer and the suburb, yes, they and their children, by the sheer ironies, the sheer ineptitude, the kinks of history, were now being compressed into more and more militant stands, their resistance to the war some hopeless melange, somehow firmed, of Pacifism and closet Communism. And their children-on a freak-out from the suburbs to a love-in on the Pentagon wall.
Norman Mailer The Armies of the Night:...
Arrayed against them as hard-core troops: an elite! the Freud-ridden embers of Marxism, good old American anxiety strata-the urban middle-class with their proliferated monumental adenoidal resentments, their secret slavish love for the oncoming hegemony of the computer and the suburb, yes, they and their children, by the sheer ironies, the sheer ineptitude, the kinks of history, were now being compressed into more and more militant stands, their resistance to the war some hopeless melange, somehow firmed, of Pacifism and closet Communism. And their children-on a freak-out from the suburbs to a love-in on the Pentagon wall.
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All the things you can talk about in anyone's work are the things that are least important.
Edward Gorey Ascending Peculiarity:...
All the things you can talk about in anyone's work are the things that are least important.
For me the curse is a crutch, but the con is everything.
Holly Black White Cat
For me the curse is a crutch, but the con is everything.
I don't have anything against God. Far from it. But I don't understand Him. And I don't trust a lot of the people that go around claiming that they're working in His best interests.
Jim Butcher Grave Peril
I don't have anything against God. Far from it. But I don't understand Him. And I don't trust a lot of the people that go around claiming that they're working in His best interests.
Now that you're an adult, you might still feel a pang of guilt when you decline a dinner invitation in favor of a good book. Or maybe you like to eat alone in restaurants and could do without the pitying looks from fellow diners. Or you're told that you're "in your head too much," a phrase that's often deployed against the quiet and cerebral. Of course, there's another word for such people: thinkers.
Susan Cain Quiet: The Power of...
Now that you're an adult, you might still feel a pang of guilt when you decline a dinner invitation in favor of a good book. Or maybe you like to eat alone in restaurants and could do without the pitying looks from fellow diners. Or you're told that you're "in your head too much," a phrase that's often deployed against the quiet and cerebral. Of course, there's another word for such people: thinkers.
I found Esau's field guide at the bottom of my pack. Taking a candle into the bedroom, I read his book until my eyes grew heavy. From his vast notes, it seemed that almost every plant and tree in the jungle had a reason for existing. I caught myself wishing there was a page in his guide that had my picture on it with the reason for my existence written underneath in Esau's neat hand.
Maria V. Snyder Magic Study
I found Esau's field guide at the bottom of my pack. Taking a candle into the bedroom, I read his book until my eyes grew heavy. From his vast notes, it seemed that almost every plant and tree in the jungle had a reason for existing. I caught myself wishing there was a page in his guide that had my picture on it with the reason for my existence written underneath in Esau's neat hand.
Here's a nifty solution: Each couple that marries should take on an entirely new surname, chosen however they want as long as both agree to it, so that a day after the wedding, both husband and wife can hold hands and joyfully journey off to the municipal offices to change their passports, driver's licenses, signatures, initials, bank accounts, etc.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Dear Ijeawele, or A...
Here's a nifty solution: Each couple that marries should take on an entirely new surname, chosen however they want as long as both agree to it, so that a day after the wedding, both husband and wife can hold hands and joyfully journey off to the municipal offices to change their passports, driver's licenses, signatures, initials, bank accounts, etc.
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