Instead of thinking about the sex, I'd always think about the clap and the crabs those people have.

The ending of my experience with cocaine came in a periodic way. I would get high less frequently, I would use smaller amounts, and I would do coke for less periods of time. And that process just kept increasing and increasing until I wasn't using it at all. I didn't go on a program anywhere. I didn't join an organization or detox anywhere. I just slowly tapered off until it was gone. That was also true of my heavy pot use. I just tapered off until there was almost no use at all. And the same thing was true of drinking tons of beer.

I use the [vulgar] words because apparently these words do not corrupt morally. I'm from the street in New York, hung around in a tough neighborhood. It was common to curse, you make your point. It's a very effective language. I try not to overdo it. It's never to shock. I know where it fits, it's never to shock. There's no shock value left in words.

The secretiveness. The stealth. Those were obviously the aspects of cocaine use I was addicted to.

Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky.

If you're reading it in a book, folks, it ain't self-help. It's help.

Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.