The American uppermiddle-class citizen is a composite of negatives. He is largely delineated by what he is not.

Panic is the sudden realization that everything around you is alive.

One very important aspect of art is that it makes people aware of what they know and don’t know they know... Once the breakthrough is made, there is a permanent expansion of awareness. But there is always a reaction of rage, of outrage, at the first breakthrough... So the artist, then, expands awareness. And once the breakthrough is made, this becomes part of the general awareness.

There isn't a feeling you can get on drugs that you can't get without drugs.

People have nothing to say, but they are afraid of saying nothing, so what they do say comes out flat and vapid and meaningless. The shadow of death is on every face.

I like the idea of generalizing the narcotic thing by making it black meat addiction.

Be just and if you can't be just, be arbitrary.