The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication: that is why so many bad artists are unable to give it up.

Do not fear being ridiculous in relation to the ridiculous.

In two weeks, despite these notes, I shall no longer believe in what I am experiencing now. One must leave behind a trace of this journey which memory forgets. One must, when this is impossible, write or draw without responding to the romantic solicitations of pain, without enjoying suffering like music, tieing a pen to one's foot if need be, helping the doctors who can learn nothing from laziness.

Here I am trying to live, or rather, I am trying to teach the death within me how to live.

It is difficult to live without opium after having known it because it is difficult, after knowing opium, to take earth seriously. And unless one is a saint, it is difficult to live without taking earth seriously.

People seek escape in myth by any means at their disposal, including drugs, alcohol, meditation, and lies.

The preservation of friendship is seen as opportunism. You are required to be in one camp or the other. You are enjoined to cut your heartstrings if they extend across the barricade.