The real history of consciousness starts with one's first lie.

Life—the way it really is—is a battle not between good and bad, but between bad and worse

I am quite prepared to die here [in NY]. It doesn't matter at all. I don't know better places, or perhaps if I do I am not prepared to make a move.

Every individual ought to know at least one poet from cover to cover: if not as a guide through the world, then as a yardstick for the language.

Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family. Even your super weirdo creep cousin.

Russian talk of political evil is as natural as eating.

I'm not trying to be ridiculous or funny, but it was rather pleasant to find yourself in isolation, in solitary.