Some people, if they didn't make it hard for themselves, might fall asleep.

Because I have become such a solitary, and not in the Aristotelian sense: not a beast, not a god. Rather, a loner troubled by longings, incapable of finding a suitable language and despairing at the impossibility of composing messages in a playable key--as if I no longer understood the codes used by the estimable people who wanted to hear from me and would have so much to reply if only the impediments were taken away.

I’ve had all the monstrosity I want.

With one long breath, caught and held in his chest, he fought his sadness over his solitary life. Don't cry, you idiot! Live or die, but don't poison everything.

There are times when the most practical thing is to lie down.

California is like an artificial limb the rest of the country doesn't really need. You can quote me on that.

It wasn't that he was specially ungenerous but that he put things off to give his generosity a longer and more significant route.