The clock tick-tocked, solemn and profound. It might have been the dry pulse of the decaying house itself, after a while it whirred and cleared its throat and struck six times.

any live man is better than any dead man but no live or dead man is very much better than any other live or dead man

You can't. You just have to.

Everything in Los Angeles is too large, too loud and usually banal in concept… The plastic asshole of the world.

What a writer's obituary should read - he wrote the books, then he died.

People to whom sin is just a matter of words, to them salvation is just words too.

I never promise a woman anything nor let her know what I'm going to give her. That's the only way to manage them. Always keep them guessing. If you cant think of any other way to surprise them, give them a bust in the jaw.