There came a time in every prolonged effort when he had a moment of near panic, or 'terror in a lonely place', the original semantic content of the word. The lonely place was his own mind.

If the world is where we hide from ourselves, what do we do when the world is no longer accessible? We invent a false name, invent a destiny, purchase a firearm through the mail.

In this country there is a universal third person, the man we all want to be. Advertising has discovered this man. It uses him to express the possibilities open to the consumer. To consume in America is not to buy; it is to dream. Advertising is the suggestion that the dream of entering the third person singular might possibly be fulfilled.

The true life is not reducible to words spoken or written, not by anyone, ever.

Eye contact was a delicate matter. A quarter second of a shared glance was a violation of agreements that made the city operational.

Just because it's on the radio doesn't mean we have to suspend belief in the evidence of our senses.

A dead afternoon in a dark bar was not the worst of fates.