There's people in hell who want ice water.

Loving Chicago is like loving a woman with a broken nose.

I went out there for a thousand a week, and I worked Monday, and I got fired Wednesday. The guy that hired me was out of town Tuesday.

The only way I could finish a book and get a plot was just to keep making it longer until something happens.

Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own.

And never, ever, no matter what else you do in your whole life, never sleep with anyone whose troubles are worse than your own.

One of the best things Henry Miller ever said was that art goes all out. It's all out. It goes full length. . . . A big book is an all-out book in which you limit your life to things that pertain directly to the book.