But if the gods do not exist at all - then we are lost,' I said. On the contrary - we are found!' said Aesop. But when we are afraid, who can we turn to, if not the gods?' Ourselves. We turn to ourselves anyway. We only pretend there are gods and that they care about us. It is a comforting falsehood.

Since flesh can't stay, we pass the words along.

The hardest part is believing in yourself at the notebook stage. It is like believing in dreams in the morning.

Each one an antidote to the one that went before. Each one a reaction, an about-face, a rebound.

I want you. I want you. I want you. Anything to avoid saying: I love you.

Genius is a strong aphrodisiac.

There were 117 psychoanalysts on the Pan Am flight to Vienna and I'd been treated by at least six of them. And married a seventh.