It's everybody, I mean. Everything everybody does is so - I don't know - not wrong, or even mean, or even stupid necessarily. But just so tiny and meaningless and - sad-making. And the worst part is, if you go bohemian or something crazy like that, you're conforming just as much only in a different way.

I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody.

We don't talk, we hold forth. We don't converse, we expound.

I'd swear to God, if I were a piano player or an actor or something and all those dopes thought I was terrific, I'd hate it. I wouldn't even want them to clap for me. People always clap for the wrong things. If I were a piano player, I'd play it in the goddam closet.

That's the terrible part. I swear to God I'm a madman.

I can be quite sarcastic when I'm in the mood.

Liberate yourself from my vice-like grip!