Trout was petrified there on Forty-second Street. It had given him a life not worth living, but I had also given him an iron will to live. This was a common combination on the planet Earth.

It is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like "Poo-tee-weet?

We're terrible animals. I think that the Earth's immune system is trying to get rid of us, as well it should.

The primary benefit of practicing any art, whether well or badly, is that it enables one's soul to grow.

...this is a hard world to be ludicrous in, with so many human beings so reluctant to laugh, so incapable of thought, so eager to believe and snarl and hate.

See the cat? See the cradle?

So let's give another big tax cut to the super-rich. That'll teach bin Laden a lesson he won't soon forget.