In the beginning was the thing. And one thing led to another.

If desire causes suffering, it may be because we do not desire wisely, or that we are inexpert at obtaining what we desire. Instead of hiding our heads in a prayer cloth and building walls against temptation, why not get better at fulfilling desire? Salvation is for the feeble, that's what I think. I don't want salvation, I want life, all of life, the miserable as well as the superb.

I had literary interests my whole life. I decided at the age of five I was going to be a writer. So I had done a great deal of reading. I suppose I was more at home in Greenwich Village than, say, any of classmates from Warsaw High School. But in any case, it was an overwhelming experience for me. It took me some time to begin to assimilate it.

Normality is the Great Neurosis of civilization.

Usually, autobiography is such an indulgence of the ego.

Redheads are said to be children of the moon, thwarted by the sun and addicted to sex and sugar.

The mission of the artist in an over-technologi zed society, is to call the old magic back to life.