Knowing you might not make it... in that knowledge courage is born.

If a weaker baboon be attacked by a stronger baboon the weaker baboon will either (a) present his hrump fanny I believe is the word, gentlemen, heh heh for passive intercourse or (b) if he is a different type baboon more extrovert and well-adjusted, lead an attack on an even weaker baboon if he can find one.

Many of my characters first came through to me as voices. That's why I use a tape recorder.

The world wasn't a more tolerant place when I was a young man. Rather, they simply sidestepped all the issues.

Revolution in America begins in books and music, then waits for political operatives to 'implement changes after the fact.'

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

It's a tract against capital punishment in the genre of Swift's Modest Proposal. I was simply following a formula to its logical conclusion. Some people appear to have understood it. The publication of Naked Lunch in England practically coincided with their abolition of capital punishment. The book obviously had a certain effect.