All penguins are the same below the surface, which I think is as perfect an analogy as we're likely to get for the futility of racism.

... And drinking neat liquor from the bottle, with all my long hair and my shirt undone and my beads, not so much the lizard king, more a gecko duchess, I fitted in nicely with their idea of what a creative person should be.

It's difficult to believe in yourself because the idea of self is an artificial construction. You are, in fact, part of the glorious oneness of the universe. Everything beautiful in the world is within you.

I struggle in these situations not to let my madness govern me, and to let the positive aspects of my character define my life.

The priority of any addict is to anaesthetise the pain of living to ease the passage of day with some purchased relief.

In England, we have such good manners that if someone says something impolite, the police will get involved.

People have always said, are you gay? I've had a lot of that. But it's just not in me. I really like women a lot; I'm repulsed by men sexually.