Ken Kesey quotes

Ken Kesey was an exceptional American author, famous for his influential novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Born in 1935, Kesey became a leading figure of the 1960s counterculture movement. His work epitomized the struggle against societal conformity and oppression. Kesey's unique storytelling resonated with readers worldwide, earning him critical acclaim. With his psychedelic-infused prose, he explored themes of freedom, identity, and rebellion. Kesey's literary contributions continue to inspire and captivate audiences to this day. Learn more about Ken Kesey and his groundbreaking novels on our website.

If grass were legalized, it would help our drug problem enormously.

- Ken Kesey

Listen, wait, and be patient. Every shaman knows you have to deal with the fire that's in your audience's eye.

- Ken Kesey

Take what you can use and let the rest go by.

- Ken Kesey

The Haight is just a place; the '60s was a spirit.

- Ken Kesey

Loved. You can't use it in the past tense. Death does not stop that love at all.

- Ken Kesey

Fascism wants Baptism coast to coast.

- Ken Kesey

The Republican consciousness has no integrity and it falls apart once you check it out. If you're a Christian, why would you want to fry this dude?

- Ken Kesey

To hell with facts! We need stories!

- Ken Kesey

Nowhere else in history has there ever been a flag that stands for the right to burn itself. This is the fractal of our flag. It stands for the right to destroy itself.

- Ken Kesey

Allen Ginsberg is a tremendous warrior as time goes by. He's a warrior first and a poet second.

- Ken Kesey

Leary can get a part of my mind that's kind of rusted shut grinding again, just by being around him and talking.

- Ken Kesey

There's something about taking a plow and breaking new ground. It gives you energy.

- Ken Kesey

The truth doesn't have to do with cruelty, the truth has to do with mercy.

- Ken Kesey

You've got to get out and pray to the sky to appreciate the sunshine; otherwise you're just a lizard standing there with the sun shining on you.

- Ken Kesey

The frontiers we broke into in the '60s are still largely unexplored.

- Ken Kesey

The Grateful Dead are our religion. This is a religion that doesn't pay homage to the God that all the other religions pay homage to.

- Ken Kesey

I've been to too many Dead concerts. There've been smokin' holes where my memory used to be.

- Ken Kesey

Ritual is necessary for us to know anything.

- Ken Kesey

The '60s aren't over; they won't be over until the Fat Lady gets high.

- Ken Kesey

Me and Norman Mailer have talked about how hard it is in America to get better. Especially at writing.

- Ken Kesey

I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismograph.

- Ken Kesey

I was raised a Christian and was a stone-faced acid head.

- Ken Kesey

Tricker the Squirrel is the best piece I ever wrote. It's intricate.

- Ken Kesey

You can't really be strong until you see a funny side to things.

- Ken Kesey

When you're around the whole Dead scene, they're there as a tribal thing; they're there as part of a rendezvous and a pow-wow.

- Ken Kesey

When we first broke into that forbidden box in the other dimension, we knew we had discovered something as surprising and powerful as the New World when Columbus came stumbling onto it.

- Ken Kesey

I used to think we were going to win in the '60s. Nixon went out and I thought we won.

- Ken Kesey

It's time to move on to the next step in the psychedelic revolution. We've reached a certain point, but we're not moving any more.

- Ken Kesey

Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing.

- Ken Kesey

The fundamentalists have taken the fun out of the mental.

- Ken Kesey