I only want sweet peace and kindliness when I awaken -- but there's always some finger pointing, telling me some terrible deed I committed during the night. It seems I make a lot of mistakes and it seems that I am not allowed any.

I was an Agnostic. Agnostics didn't have much to argue about.

They looked as if nothing had ever touched them--all well-mothered, protected, with a soft sheen of contentment. None of them had ever been in jail, or worked hard with their hands, or even gotten a traffic ticket. Skimmed-milk jollies, the whole bunch.

There's nothing like privacy. You know, I like people. It's nice that they might like my books and all that...but I'm not the book, see? I'm the guy who wrote it, but I don't want them to come up and throw roses on me or anything. I want them to let me breathe.

I took no pride in my solitude; but I was dependent on it. The darkness of the room was like sunlight to me.

There is nothing that teaches you more than regrouping after failure and moving on.

I never pump up my vulgarity. I wait for it to arrive in its own terms.