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.

Never lie down with a woman who's got more troubles than you.

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 money can't buy everything. For example: poverty.

... Chicago divided your heart. Leaving you loving the joint for keeps. Yet knowing it never can love you.

...he said, with sort of a little derisive smile, "How can you walk down the street with all this stuff going on inside you?" I said, "I don't know how you can walk down the street with nothing going on inside you.

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