Any writer who knows what he's doing isn't doing very much.

The hard necessity of bringing the judge on the bench down into the dock has been the peculiar responsibility of the writer in all ages of man.

It is strange how fragile this man-creature is.....in one second he's just garbage. Garbage, that's all.

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.

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.

The avocation of assessing the failures of better men can be turned into a comfortable livelihood, providing you back it up with a Ph.D.

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