I've enjoyed being a famous writer-except that every once in a while you have to write something.

She asked if we were calm enough for her to take off the cuffs, and McMurphy nodded. He had slumped over with his head hung and his elbows between his knees and looked completely exhausted--it hadn't occurred to me that it was just as hard for him to stand straight as it was for me.

I've found psychedelics to be keys to worlds that have always existed, that have to be talked about.

But I tried, didn't I? Goddamnit, at least I did that.

Take what you can use and let the rest go by.

We'd just shared the last beer and slung the empty can out the window at a stop sign and were just waiting back to get the feel of the day, swimming in that kind of tasty drowsiness that comes over you after a day of going hard at something you enjoy doing -- half sunburned and half drunk and keeping awake only because you wanted to savor the taste as long as you could.

When Shakespeare was writing, he wasn't writing for stuff to lie on the page; it was supposed to get up and move around.