Nowadays, of course, just about our only solvent industry is the merchandising of death, bankrolled by our grandchildren, so that the message of our principal art forms, movies and television and political speeches and newspaper columns, for the sake of the economy, simply has to be this: War is hell, all right, but the only way a boy can become a man is in a shoot-out of some kind, preferably, but by no means necessarily, on a battlefield.

Thinking doesn't seem to help very much. The human brain is too high-powered to have many practical uses in this particular universe.

Virtually every writer I know would rather be a musician.

Suicide is the punctuation mark at the end of many artistic careers

Still and all, why bother? Here's my answer. Many people need desperately to receive this message: I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.

Characters paralyzed by the meaninglessness of modern life still have to drink water from time to time.

You can't just eat good food. You've got to talk about it too.