I looked up at the dark sky and prayed to God for a better break in life and a better chance to do something for the little people I loved.

Yeah," I said, "but you're an artist. You don't believe in decency and honesty and gratitude. Where shall we eat?

Geniuses can be scintillating and geniuses can be somber, but it's that inescapable sorrowful depth that shines through-originality.

Don't tell them too much about your soul. They're waiting for just that.

There are worse things than being mad.

We were all delighted, we all realized we were leaving confusion and nonsense behind and performing our one and noble function of the time, move.

John Clellon Holmes... and I were sitting around trying to think up the meaning of the Lost Generation and the subsequent existentialism and I said 'You know John, this is really a beat generation'; and he leapt up and said, 'That's it, that's right!'