There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.

If I were a younger man, I would write a history of human stupidity; and I would climb to the top of Mount McCabe and lie down on my back with my history for a pillow; and I would take from the ground some of the blue-white poison that makes statues of men; and I would make a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who.

Much of the conversation in the country consisted of lines from television shows, both past and present.

Terry Southern is the illegitimate son of Mack Sennett and Edna Saint Vincent Millay.

You had to get everything exactly right or the editors would give you hell.

The crowd, having been promised nothing, felt cheated, having received nothing.

The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don't acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.