“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.”

— Jack Kerouac

The quote "Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing…" is famous quote attributed to Jack Kerouac (1922–1969), American writer.

Sometimes credited to Jack Kerouac, from his book The Dharma Bums. It is not a quote by Kerouac. It first appeared as a very brief description of The Dharma Bums in Esquire's list of "The 80 Best Books Every Man Should Read" in 2010: http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/g96/80-books/?slide=71. It was later copied by Kilburn Hall in his list of 30 "Books and Authors Every Man Should Read" which he first posted online in 2012: https://kilburnhall.wordpress.com/2012/03/17/the-books-and-authors-every-man-should-read/
Misattributed

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update July 29, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Jack Kerouac photo

Jack Kerouac 266

American writer 1922–1969

Related quotes

“Mowing your lawn is against nature.”

Rufus Wainwright (1973) American-Canadian singer-songwriter and composer

Responding to Reverend Lou Sheldon insisting on homosexuality being against the very force of nature, Bill Maher's talk show Politically Incorrect, August 2001

“Grow the lawn and mow the lawn
always keep the TV on,
brush your teeth and kill the germs,
poison apples, poison worms.”

Trenton Lee Stewart The Mysterious Benedict Society

Source: The Mysterious Benedict Society

“Death is a process as straightforward as mowing a lawn.”

Antonella Gambotto-Burke book The Eclipse: A Memoir of Suicide

Source: The Eclipse: A Memoir of Suicide (2004), P. 188.

“Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain just a little bit to test that it's a mountain. From the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain.”

Frank Herbert book Dune

Source: Dune

“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American entrepreneur and co-founder of Apple Inc.

“On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

“My bodyguard was mowing the lawn in a pink bikini when the body fell from the sky.”

Charlaine Harris (1951) American writer

Source: Dead Over Heels

“Just remember, you can't climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947) actor, businessman and politician of Austrian-American heritage

Commencement Speech at University of Southern California http://graduationwisdom.com/speeches/0067-schwarzenegger.htm (May 2009).
2000s

“Between the lines it must have hurt
To see the neighborhood go down,
Your neighbor in his undershirt
At dusk come out to mow his lawn.”

Donald Justice (1925–2004) Poet, teacher

To the Unknown Lady Who Wrote the Letters Found In the Hatbox
Night Light (1967)

“It's not a hill it's a mountain, as you start out the climb”

Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2

I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
Lyrics, No Line On The Horizon (2009)

Related topics