If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one's chances of survival increase with each book one reads.

Funny how a little politeness can change people's minds.

What kind of life can you have in a house without books?

When a glass sits on a table here, people don't wonder if it's half filled or half empty. They just hope it's good beer.

My father was sleepless most of his life. So by the age of five, I was awake with him all night long, watching bad television or we'd lie in the same bed, and I'd read my comic books while he read his latest spy or mystery novel.

I write less about alcohol, less and less and less. You 're an addict - so of course you write about the thing you love most. I loved alcohol the most, loved it more than anybody or anything. That's what I wrote about. And it certainly accounted for some great writing. But it accounted for two or three years of good writing - it would never account for 20 years of good writing. I would have turned into Charles Bukowski. He wrote 10,000 poems and 10 of them were great.

I ain't interested in the truth. I'm interested in the way things should be.