There is no irritant as painful as an ace up your sleeve that you can never use; it's the kind of thing that causes oysters to produce pearls.

I can’t wait fifteen years to do my work: Because my ideas are coming now.

Ghetto humor is the social twin of fantasy; together they sustain the powerless, who accomplish miracles through illusion.

The moon develops the imagination, as chemicals develop photographic images.

You might not have thought it possible to give birth to others before one has given birth to oneself, but I assure you it is quite possible, it has been done; I offer myself in evidence as Exhibit A.

Life is like a great jazz riff. You sense the end the very moment you were wanting it to go on forever.

in California death is one of the most successfully kept secrets there is. If you doubt this, try to find a cemetery.