Men come and go, cities rise and fall, whole civilizations appear and disappear-the earth remains, slightly modified. The earth remains, and the heartbreaking beauty where there are no hearts to break....I sometimes choose to think, no doubt perversely, that man is a dream, thought an illusion, and only rock is real. Rock and sun.

The world is what it is, no less and no more, and therein lies its entire and sufficient meaning.

But it is a writer's duty to write and speak and record the truth, always the truth, no matter whom may be offended.

Homosexuality, like androgyny, might be an instinctive racial response to overpopulation, crowding, and stress. Both flourish when empire reaches its apogee.

War? The one war I'd be happy to join is the war against officers.

The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state-controlled police and military are the weapons of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of democracy. Not for nothing was the revolver called an "equalizer."

Phoenix, Arizona: an oasis of ugliness in the midst of a beautiful wasteland.