“And this is not the happiness of a magazine writer who sends in his gay little philosophy of life to the editor for the one paragraph spread in front of the magazine: This is a serious happiness full of doubts and strengths. I wonder if happiness is possible. It is a state of mind, but I'd hate to be a bore all my life, if only because of those I love around me. Happiness can change into unhappiness just for the sake of change.”

American novelist and poet

Jack Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. Born Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac, he became a central figure in the Beat Generation and is known for helping shape it alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. His work is closely tied to that literary movement, and his reputation rests on the writing that helped define its voice and outlook. He is remembered as a novelist and poet whose name remains strongly associated with the Beat Generation.