Victory is a fleeting thing in the gambling business. Today's winners are tomorrow's blinking toads, dumb beasts with no hope.

I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.

I have no taste for either poverty or honest labor, so writing is the only recourse left for me

My greatest talent is in my ability to choose good friends. It's about as important as things get.

One of the most basic factors in sports is that winning becomes a habit, and losing is the same way. When failure starts to feel normal in your life or your work or even your darkest vices, you won't have to go looking for trouble, because trouble will find you. Count on it.

The person who doesn't scatter the morning dew will not comb gray hairs.

We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and -- in spite of True Romance magazines -- we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely -- at least, not all the time -- but essentially, and finally, alone. This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don't see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness.