Quotes from Jack Kerouac, On the Road

And I said, 'That last thing is what you can't get, Carlo. Nobody can get to that last thing. We keep on living in hopes of catching it once and for all.

But why think about that when all the golden lands ahead of you and all kinds of unforseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you're alive to see?

I was halfway across America, at the dividing line between the East of my youth and the West of my future.

We lay on our backs, looking at the ceiling and wondering what God had wrought when He made life so sad. We made vague plans to meet in Frisco.

...and I realized no matter what you do it's bound to be a waste of time in the end so you might as well go mad.

We wandered in a frenzy and a dream (301).

...but I preferred reading the American landscape as we went along. Every bump, rise, and stretch in it mystified my longing.

Oh, smell the people! yelled Dean with his face out the window, sniffing. Ah, God! Life!

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 and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop.

Oh, I love, love, love women! I think women are wonderful! I love women!

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.