You begin saving the world by saving one man at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.

In the morning it was morning and I was still alive.

how can you be true and kind at the same time? how?

That's the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens you drink in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens you drink to make something happen.

As a recluse I couldn't bear traffic. It had nothing to do with jealousy, I simply disliked people, crowds, anywhere, except at my readings. People diminished me, they sucked me dry.

...in that drunken place you would like to hand your heart to her and say touch it but then give it back.

The pest, in a sense, is a very superior being to us: he knows where to find us and how--usually in the bath or in sexual intercourse or asleep.