The only obligation any artist can have is to himself. His work means nothing, otherwise. It has no meaning.

Are there any writers on the literary scene whom I consider truly great? Yes: Truman Capote.

Don't wanna sleep, don't wanna die, just wanna go a-travellin' through the pastures of the sky

I thought that Mr. Clutter was a very nice gentleman. I thought so right up to the moment that I cut his throat.

Anticipation is anxiety. I have always had a very extreme anxiety thing.

A disquieting loneliness came into my life, but it induced no hunger for friends of longer acquaintance: they seemed now like a salt-free, sugarless diet.

All human life has its seasons and cycles, and no one's personal chaos can be permanent. Winter, after all, gives way to spring and summer, though sometimes when branches stay dark and the earth cracks with ice, one thinks they will never come, that spring, and that summer, but they do, and always.