We don’t even ask happiness, just a little less pain.

The night kept coming on in and there was nothing I could do.

Writing is something that you don't know how to do. You sit down and it's something that happens, or it may not happen. So, how can you teach anybody how to write? It's beyond me, because you yourself don't even know if you're going to be able to. I'm always worried, well, you know, every time I go upstairs with my wine bottle. Sometimes I'll sit at that typewriter for fifteen minutes, you know. I don't go up there to write. The typewriter's up there. If it doesn't start moving, I say, well this could be the night that I hit the dust.

In New York you've got to have all the luck.

it is all ash and dry leaves and grief gone like an ocean liner.

You can forgive a fool because he only runs in one direction and doesn't deceive anybody. It's the deceivers who make you feel bad.

True revolution comes from true revulsion; when things get bad enough the kitten will kill the lion.