Contact with men who wield power and authority still leaves an intangible sense of repulsion. It's very like being in close proximity to fecal matter, the fecal embodiment of something unmentionable, and you wonder what it is made of and when it acquired its historically sacred character.

Prophesying catastrophe is incredibly banal. The more original move is to assume that it has already happened.

It is exciting to hear one of your fondest ideas formulated in one fell swoop, better than you could have done yourself.

Seduction is always more singular and sublime than sex and it commands the higher price.

Cities are distinguished by the catastrophic forms they presuppose and which are a vital part of their essential charm. New York is King Kong, or the blackout, or vertical bombardment: Towering Inferno. Los Angeles is the horizontal fault, California breaking off and sliding into the Pacific: Earthquake.

The abjection of our political situation is the only true challenge today. Only facing up to this situation in all its desperation can help us get out of it.

There is nothing funny about Halloween. This sarcastic festival reflects, rather, an infernal demand for revenge by children on the adult world.