Faced by the actual practice of freedom, the French and American revolutions would be forced to stand by their words.

Thanks, for a country where nobody is allowed to mind his own business. Thanks, for a nation of finks.

No body of knowledge needs an organizational policy. Organizational policy can only impede the advancement of knowledge. There is a basic incompatibility between any organization and freedom of thought.

In this world, [of Flash and Filigree] nothing is true, and censure or outrage is simply irrelevant.

Kerouac and I are not real at all. The only thing about a writer is that he has written, and not his so-called life. 'And we (will) all die and the stars will go out, one after another.

Do not proffer sympathy to the mentally ill; it is a bottomless pit. Tell them firmly, "I am not paid to listen to this drivel - you are a terminal fool!" Otherwise, they make you as crazy as they are.

It is indeed difficult to make a living as a writer, and my advice to anyone contemplating a literary career is to have some other trade.