Saturday, 5 September 2015

5th September: On the Road

On this date in 1957 Jack Kerouac's On the Road was published. It was written on a single scroll of paper made up of sheets of tracing paper taped together and continuously fed through the typewriter so Kerouac wouldn't have to stop writing to change the paper. It took him 20 days to write and he ended up with a 120 foot long scroll. Can't see him having much luck with a literary agent today submitting that.
10 quotes by him, no doubt some are from this book.


  1. Maybe that's what life is... a wink of the eye and winking stars.
  2. All of life is a foreign country.
  3. Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.
  4. Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don't be sorry.
  5. There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.
  6. Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.
  7. What's in store for me in the direction I don't take?
  8. Life must be rich and full of loving--it's no good otherwise, no good at all, for anyone.
  9. I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I could do anything I wanted.
  10. 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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