I would be married, but I'd have no wife, I would be married to a single life.

"Baby," I said. "I'm a genius but nobody knows it but me."

There's nothing else as pleasant as being unpleasant when there's nothing else to do, and there's usually nothing else to do.

Don't wait for the good woman. She doesn't exist. There are women who can make you feel more with their bodies and their souls but these are the exact women who will turn the knife into you right in front of the crowd.

I am a dolt of a man, easily made happy or even stupidly happy almost without cause and left alone I am mostly content.

There's a small balcony here, the door is open and I can see the lights of the cars on the Harbor Freeway south, they never stop, that roll of lights, on and on. All those people. What are they doing? What are they thinking? We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't.

All our days are marked with/ unexpected/ affronts--some/ disastrous, others/ less so/ but the process is/ wearing and/ continuous./ Attrition rules./ Most give/ way/ leaving/ empty spaces/ where people should/ be.