Skip to content

I am the penny whistle of American literature.

— Nelson Algren

Another quote →

Topics

Books

More quotes by Nelson Algren

A man who won't demean himself for a dollar is a phoney to my way of thinking.

What country is there for a white man who isn't white?

The clock in the room above the Safari told only Junkie Time.

The Man with the Golden Arm (1949)

A writer who knows what he is doing isn't doing very much.

Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never play cards with a man named Doc. And never lay down with a woman who's got more troubles than you.

All Nelson Algren quotes →

You may also like

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

It is not in the books of the Philosophers, but in the religious symbolism of the Ancients, that we must look for the footprints of Science, and re-discover the Mysteries of Knowledge.

Albert Pike Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871)

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.

Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.

Logan Pearsall Smith Afterthoughts (1931)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Nelson Algren (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.