I can't help feeling that there is no beauty without hope, struggle, and conquest.

I'm still an atheist, thank God.

Mystery is the basic element of all works of art.

If alcohol is queen, then tobacco is her consort. It's a fond companion for all occasions, a loyal friend through fair weather and foul.

I would give my life for a man who is looking for the truth. But I would gladly kill a man who thinks that he has found the truth.

If someone were to tell me I had twenty years left, and ask me how I'd like to spend them, I'd reply 'Give me two hours a day of activity, and I'll take the other twenty-two in dreams.'

The bar... is an exercise in solitude. Above all else, it must be quiet, dark, very comfortable-and, contrary to modern mores, no music of any kind, no matter how faint. In sum, there should be no more than a dozen tables, and a client that doesn't like to talk.