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.

He was falling between glacial walls, he didn't know how anyone could fall so far away from everyone else in the world. So far to fall, so cold all the way, so steep and dark between those morphine-coloured walls.

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

Never eat in a place called 'Mom's'.

You don't write a novel out of sheer pity any more than you blow a safe out of a vague longing to be rich. A certain ruthlessness and a sense of alienation from society is as essential to creative writing as it is to armed robbery.

(Chicago is) the only major city in the country where you can easily buy your way out of a murder rap.

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