# Quote — Jack Kerouac, The Subterraneans

> Once I was young and had so much more orientation and could talk with nervous intelligence about everything and with clarity and without as much literary preambling at this; in other words this is the story of an unself-confident man, at the same time of an egomaniac, naturally, facetious won't do−just to start at the beginning and let the truth seep out, that's what I'll do-.

- Author: [Jack Kerouac](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac.md)
- Book: [The Subterraneans](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac/the-subterraneans.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac#The_Subterraneans_(1958)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac/the-subterraneans/once-i-was