I call that mind free which jealously guards its intellectual rights and powers, which calls no man master, which does not content itself with a passive or hereditary faith, [and] receives new truth as an angel from Heaven.

There's no way to prove that there is no God. You just have to take it on faith.

All over the world, relationships between men and women are very, very tricky and very difficult and you don't learn anything. It's not an exact science, so you can't learn anything. You're always going by instinct and your instinct betrays you because you want what you want when you want it.

All literature is a footnote to Faust. I have no idea what I mean by that.

I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown.

I can't enjoy anything unless everybody is. If one guy is starving someplace, that puts a crimp in my evening.

To me there’s no real difference between a fortune teller or a fortune cookie and any of the organized religions. They’re all equally valid or invalid, really. And equally helpful.