the last cigarettes are smoked, the loaves are sliced, and lest this be taken for wry sorrow, drown the spider in wine. you are much more than simply dead: I am a dish for your ashes, I am a fist for your vanished air. the most terrible thing about life is finding it gone.

The crazy ones only laugh when there is no reason to laugh.

there are so many days when living stops and pulls up and sits and waits like a train on the rails.

Most people are not ready for death, theirs or anybody elses.

I felt I had to win. It seemed very important. I didn't know why it was important and I kept thinking, why do I think this is so important? And another part of me answered, just because it is.

Don't ever write a novel unless it hurts like a hot turd coming out.

The Artist," an ancient sage had once said, "is always sitting on the doorsteps of the rich.