Sometimes the story OF a book is as interesting as the story IN the book. Take for instance the American literary treasure that is On the Road by Jack Kerouac. When the book was first published it was described as “the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as ‘beat,’ and whose principal avatar he is. As the story of the book goes, Kerouac wrote the entire book on one continuous 120-foot roll of paper over a period of 3 weeks in 1951. Kerouac continued to edit and piece together the manuscript buy cutting it up and taping it together until it was finally published in 1957.
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The original manuscript, or “the scroll” as Kerouac called it, can actually be seen in it’s entirety at museum exhibits like the one at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum in 2007:
On the Road, in my opinion is one of those books that every reader owes it to themselves to read. The ideas, emotions, and insights of the book ring as true today as they did back in the late 40’s when the book was set to take place. Kerouac was such a beautiful mind that gave so much to the literary world. Here are some of my favorite Kerouac snippets that speak directly to the creative, insightful mind as well as those with wanderlust in their soul.
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“Something good will come of all things yet”
“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”
“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”
“Things are so hard to figure out when you live from day to day in this feverish and silly world. ”
“Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don’t be sorry.”
“There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.”
“The only truth is music.”
Read: 15 of the Best Quotes from one of History’s Most Incredible Women, Maya Angelou
“My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.”
“What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? – it’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.”
“A pain stabbed my heart, as it did every time I saw a girl I loved who was going the opposite direction in this too-big world.”
“Happiness consists in realizing it is all a great strange dream”
“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.”
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“The best teacher is experience and not through someone’s distorted point of view”
“I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I could do anything I wanted.”
“Houses are full of things that gather dust”
“Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.”
“Don’t use the phone. People are never ready to answer it. Use poetry.”
“I realized these were all the snapshots which our children would look at someday with wonder, thinking their parents had lived smooth, well-ordered lives and got up in the morning to walk proudly on the sidewalks of life, never dreaming the raggedy madness and riot of our actual lives, our actual night, the hell of it, the senseless emptiness.”
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“My witness is the empty sky.”
“I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.”
