In the modern world, all literary art is necessarily political -- especially that which pretends not to be.

Passion, sexual passion, may lead to marriage, but cannot sustain marriage. The purpose of marriage is the raising of children, for which patience, not passion, is the necessary foundation.

Great art is indefinable but that's all right; it exists anyway.

My books always make the best-seller lists in Wolf Hole, Arizona, and Hanksville, Utah.

Jack Kerouac, like a sick refrigerator, worked too hard at keeping cool and died on his mama's lap from alcohol and infantilism.

The ready availability of suicide, like sex and alcohol, is one of life's basic consolations.

The rich can buy everything but health, virtue, friendship, wit, good looks, love, pride, intelligence, grace, and, if you need it, happiness.