Quotes by Henry Miller

All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without benefit of experience.

Analysis brings no curative powers in its train; it merely makes us conscious of the existence of an evil, which, oddly enough, is consciousness.

Back of every creation, supporting it like an arch, is faith. Enthusiasm is nothing: it comes and goes. But if one believes, then miracles occur.

Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.

Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.

I have always looked upon decay as being just as wonderful and rich an expression of life as growth.

If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having.

One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.

Imagination is the voice of daring. If there is anything Godlike about God it is that. He dared to imagine everything.

In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance.

In the beginning was the Word. Man acts it out. He is the act, not the actor.

In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest.

Instead of asking 'How much damage will the work in question bring about?' why not ask 'How much good? How much joy?'

Life has to be given a meaning because of the obvious fact that it has no meaning.

Life is 440 horsepower in a 2-cylinder engine.

Life is constantly providing us with new funds, new resources, even when we are reduced to immobility. In life's ledger there is no such thing as frozen assets.

One of the reasons why so few of us ever act, instead of react, is because we are continually stifling our deepest impulses.

The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.

Coming together

The coming together of 2 persons consists of exploration of differing personalities, tension of conflict, frustration of disagreements and sometimes awkward moments of silence.

The beauty of love is it’s divine role in smoothening the complicated process of coming together in unity and mutual compromise.

The joy of writing is the release of knots within that alters one’s cluttered, fogged and often biased perspective. And this is achieved through the impetuous pondering of each word, phase and sentence drafted, the seconds held in thought like holes that permit light of truth to shine through and enlighten the darkened web.

Archie Weller - the author

Archie Weller's first novel, The Day of the Dog, was written and submitted to the inaugural Australian/Vogel award within a period of six weeks in a spirit of anger after his release from Broome jail for what he regarded as a wrongful conviction. The book was highly commended by the judges and won the fiction award in the literature section of the prestigious Western Australia Week Art Awards.

Weller was 23 when he wrote The Day of the Dog and a number of his short stories had already been published. Some of those earlier published stories are included in this collection, together with more recent unpublished works. His style is characteristic and definite. Staccato conversational sections reveal characters or tell the story, supported by scenes of sudden violence which yield just as suddenly to lyrical passages. His sympathies are plainly with the underdogs of the world. Although his stories are disturbing, they are not depressing, for, as Nancy Keesing said of the novel, he 'tells his tale stylishly and with compassion, striking imagery and humour'. - Book cover review

Archie Weller has an impressive understanding of the anguish and realities of his characters… what is impressive… is the clarity and cool observing power of Archie Weller's writing. - Thomas Shapcott, Courier Mail 1981

About the author:

Archie Weller was brought up on a farm in the south-east of Western Australia. His early years were isolated until his parents divorced when he was twelve and he went with his mother to live in East Perth - in those days a semi-slum district inhabited by migrants, Aborigines and poor whites. He attended one of Western Australia's exclusive boarding schools on a scholarship, but says he always felt 'disadvantaged' because of the relevant poverty in which he and his mother lived. His real friends became the 'street kids' and petty criminals with whom he associated during school holidays and who are so finely pictured in his stories.

An observer and a wanderer, he has earned a living at such diverse occupations as dishwasher in the UK and Europe, printer's assistant in Perth, wharfie in Broome, hospital orderly in Derby, writer in residence at the ANU in Canberra, through occasional broadcasts and lecturers, and through publication of his stories.