Quotes from book
Tropic of Cancer

Tropic of Cancer
Henry Miller

Tropic of Cancer is a novel by Henry Miller that has been described as "notorious for its candid sexuality" and as responsible for the "free speech that we now take for granted in literature". It was first published in 1934 by the Obelisk Press in Paris, France, but this edition was banned in the United States. Its publication in 1961 in the U.S. by Grove Press led to obscenity trials that tested American laws on pornography in the early 1960s. In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the book non-obscene. It is regarded as an important work of 20th-century literature.

Henry Miller photo

“I am living at the Villa Borghese. There is not a crumb of dirt anywhere, nor a chair misplaced. We are all alone here and we are dead.”

Henry Miller book Tropic of Cancer

Source: Tropic of Cancer

Henry Miller photo

“Your nearness is the nearness of planets. I am the void between you. If I withdraw there will be no void for you to swim in.”

Henry Miller book Tropic of Cancer

Source: Tropic of Cancer

Henry Miller photo

“To sing you must first open your mouth. You must have a pair of lungs, and a little knowledge of music. It is not necessary to have an accordion, or a guitar. The essential thing is to want to sing. This then is a song. I am singing.”

Henry Miller book Tropic of Cancer

Source: Tropic of Cancer

Henry Miller photo

“People are like lice - they get under your skin and bury themselves there. You scratch and scratch until the blood comes, but you can't get permanently deloused.”

Henry Miller book Tropic of Cancer

Source: Tropic of Cancer

Henry Miller photo

“At the bottom of every frozen heart there is a drop or two of love―just enough to feed the birds.”

Henry Miller book Tropic of Cancer

Source: Tropic of Cancer

Henry Miller photo

“As long as that spark of passion is missing there is no human significance in the performance.”

Henry Miller book Tropic of Cancer

Source: Tropic of Cancer

Henry Miller photo

“There will be more calamities, more death, more despair. Not the slightest indication of a change anywhere. The cancer of our time is eating us away. Our heroes have killed themselves, or are killing themselves.”

Henry Miller book Tropic of Cancer

Source: Tropic of Cancer

Henry Miller photo

“This is not a book in the ordinary sense of the word. No, this is a prolonged insult, a gob of spit in the face of art, a kick in the pants to God, Man, Destiny, Time, Love, Beauty… what you will.”

Henry Miller book Tropic of Cancer

Source: Tropic of Cancer (1934), Chapter One
Context: This is not a book. This is libel, slander, defamation of character. This is not a book, in the ordinary sense of the word. No, this is a prolonged insult, a gob of spit in the face of Art, a kick in the pants to God, Man, Destiny, Time, Love, Beauty... what you will.

Henry Miller photo

“It is no accident that propels people like us to Paris. Paris is simply an artificial stage, a revolving stage that permits the spectator to glimpse all phases of the conflict. Of itself Paris initiates no dramas. They are begun elsewhere. Paris is simply an obstetrical instrument that tears the living embryo from the womb and puts it in the incubator. Paris is the cradle of artificial births. Rocking here in the cradle each one slips back into his soil; one dreams back to Berlin, New York, Chicago, Vienna, Minsk,. Vienna is never more Vienna than Paris. Everything is raised to its apotheosis. The cradle gives up its babes and new ones take their place. You can real here on the walls Zola lived and Balzac and Dante and Strindberg and everybody who ever was anything. Everyone has lived here some time or other. Nobody dies here...”

Henry Miller book Tropic of Cancer

Source: Tropic of Cancer (1934), Chapter Two

Henry Miller photo

“Sleep, Napoleon! It was not your ideas they wanted, it was your corpse.”

Henry Miller book Tropic of Cancer

Source: Tropic of Cancer (1934), Chapter Four

Henry Miller photo

“There is only one thing which interests me vitally now, and that is the recording of all that which is omitted in books.”

Henry Miller book Tropic of Cancer

Source: Tropic of Cancer (1934), Chapter One

Henry Miller photo

“This is not a book. This is libel, slander, defamation of character. This is not a book, in the ordinary sense of the word. No, this is a prolonged insult, a gob of spit in the face of Art, a kick in the pants to God, Man, Destiny, Time, Love, Beauty … what you will.”

Henry Miller book Tropic of Cancer

Source: Tropic of Cancer (1934), Chapter One