the old ploy of the powerful: never refuse when you can confuse. Distraction and delay are always better than obstruction.

Thunderstorms were rare in California, but when they came they were, like most things in California, larger than life.

the unconscious forces that govern accessible memory are the most arbitrary of editors and the absolute masters of our lives.

In a city you thought of all life as human life. You had to live in the heart of the woods to realize that humanity was a slight ripple on the surface of a flood of life that seeped into every vacant crack, flowed into every biological vacuum the moment it occurred.

Money is an acquired taste. But, once acquired, it becomes an addiction.

the old ploy of the powerful: never refuse when you can confuse. Distraction and delay are always better than obstruction.

The author portrays himself in every line he writes and portrayal is always betrayal.