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

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.

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

He who has learned to do nothing with his whole mind and body will have everything done for him.

I escaped the [Southern-writer] label because I didn't and don't write about the South.

If you are asking me what the individual can do right now, in a political sense, I'd have to say he can't do all that much. Speaking for myself, I am more concerned with the transformation of the individual, which to me is much more important than the so-called political revolution.

A cat's rage is beautiful, burning with pure cat flame, all its hair standing up and crackling blue sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering.