I tell you such fine music waits in the shadows of hell.

and love is a word used too much and much too soon.

Complaint is often the result of an insufficient ability to live within the obvious restrictions of this god damned cage.

If it doesn't come bursting out of you in spite of everything, don’t do it.

I couldn't get myself to read the want ads. The thought of sitting in front of a man behind a desk and telling him that I wanted a job, that I was qualified for a job, was too much for me. Frankly, I was horrified by life, at what a man had to do simply in order to eat, sleep, and keep himself clothed. So I stayed in bed and drank. When you drank the world was still out there, but for the moment it didn't have you by the throat.

Cautiously, I allowed myself to feel good at times. I found moments of peace in cheap rooms just staring at the knobs of some dresser or listening to the rain in the dark. The less I needed the better I felt.

the best often die by their own hand just to get away, and those left behind can never quite understand why anybody would ever want to get away from them