"If you have the ability to love, love yourself first."

"You shoulda known the entirety of the trap, a**hole,love means eventual painvictory means eventual defeatgrace means eventual slovenliness,there's no wayout...you see, youunderstand?"

"I had never been a dresser. My shirts were all faded and shrunken, 5 or 6 years old, threadbare. My pants the same. I hated department stores, I hated the clerks, they acted so superior, they seemed to know the secret of life, they had a confidence I didn't possess. My shoes were always broken down and old, I disliked shoe stores too. I never purchased anything until it was completely unusable, and that included automobiles. It wasn't a matter of thrift, I just couldn't bear to be a buyer needing a seller, seller being so handsome and aloof and superior. Besides, it all took time, time when you could just be laying around and drinking."

"Goodness could be found sometimes in the middle of hell."

"I heard an airplane passing overhead. I wished I was on it."

"Genius could be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way, or even to say a simple thing in a simpler way."

"I decided to stay in bed until noon. Maybe by then half the world would be dead and it would only be half as hard to take."

"Shot in the eyeshot in the brainshot in the assshot like a flower in the danceamazing how death wins hands downamazing how much credence is given to idiot forms oflifeamazing how laughter has been drowned outamazing how viciousness is such a constantI must soon declare my own war on their warI must hold to my last piece of groundI must protect the small space I have made that hasallowed me lifemy life not their deathmy death not their deaththis place, this time, nowI vow to the sunthat I will laugh the good laugh once againin the perfect place of meforever.their death not my life."

"Why did I come here? I thought. Why is it always only a matter of choosing between something bad and something worse?"

"I have, he went on, betrayed myself withbelief, deluded myself with lovetricked myself with sex.the bottle is damned faithful, he said,the bottle will not lie."

"I was like a turd that drew flies instead of like a flower that butterflies and bees desired. I wanted to live alone,I felt best being alone, cleaner."

"Generally, I decided, it was better to wait, if you had any feeling for the individual. If you hated her right off, it was better to fuck her right off; if you didn't, it was better to wait, then fuck her and hate her later on."

"Some moments are nice, some arenicer, some are even worthwritingabout."

"I care for you, darling, I love you,the only reason I fucked L. is because you fuckedZ. and then I fucked R. and you fucked N.and because you fucked N. I had to fuckY. But I think of you constantly, I feel youhere in my belly like a baby, love I'd call it,no matter what happens I'd call it love, and soyou fucked C. and then before I could moveyou fucked W., so I had to fuck D. ButI want you to know that I love you, I think of youconstantly, I don't think I've ever loved anybodylike I love you."

"One doesn't even think ofthe liverand if the liverdoesn't think ofus, that'sfine."

"The centuries are sprinkled with rare magicwith divine creatureswho help us get past the common and extraordinary ills that beset us."

"I found the best thingI could dowas just to type awayat my own workand let the dyingdieas they always have."

"Hate contains truth. beauty is a facade."

"Sometimes you just have to pee in the sink."

"And beware those whoonly takeinstructions from theirGodfor they havefailed completely to live their ownlives."

"Having a bunch of cats around is good. If you're feeling bad, just look at the cats, you'll feel better, because they know that everything is, just as it is."

"The courage it took to get out of bed eachmorningto face the same thingsover and overwasenormous."

"It's possible to love a human being if you don't know them too well."

"I don't like jail, they got the wrong kind of bars in there."

"The dead do not needaspirin orsorrow,I suppose.but they might needrain.not shoesbut a place towalk.not cigarettes,they tell us,but a place to burn.or we're told:space and a place to flymight be thesame.the dead don't need me.nor do theliving.but the dead might needeachother.in fact, the dead might needeverything weneedandwe need so muchif we only knewwhat itwas.it isprobablyeverythingand we will allprobably dietrying to getitor diebecause wedon't getit.I hopeyou will understandwhen I am deadI got as muchaspossible."

"Yes?' he asked, looking at me over the sheet.'I'm a writer temporarily down on my inspirations.''Oh, a writer, eh?''Yes.''Are you sure?''No, I'm not.''What do you write?''Short stories mostly. And I'm halfway through a novel.''A novel, eh?''Yes.''What's the name of it?''The Leaky Faucet of My Doom.''Oh, I like that. What's it about?''Everything.''Everything? You mean, for instance, it's about cancer?''Yes.''How about my wife?''She's in there too."

"A yet women -good women- frightened me because they eventually wanted your soul, and what was left of mine, I wanted to keep. Basically I craved prostitutes, base women, because they were deadly and hard and made no personal demands. Nothing was lost when they left. Yet at the same time I yearned for a gentle, good woman, despite the overwhelming price."

"She had wild eyes, slightly insane. She also carried an overload of compassion that was real enough and which obviously cost her something."

"Show me a man who lives alone and has a perpetually clean kitchen, and 8 times out of 9 I'll show you a man with detestable spiritual qualities."

"During my worst timeson the park benchesin the jailsor living withwhoresI always had this certaincontentment-I wouldn't call ithappiness-it was more of an innerbalancethat settled forwhatever was occuringand it helped in thefactoriesand when relationshipswent wrongwith thegirls.it helpedthrough thewars and thehangoversthe backalley fightsthehospitals.to awaken in a cheap roomin a strange city andpull up the shade-this was the craziest kind ofcontentmentand to walk across the floorto an old dresser with acracked mirror-see myself, ugly,grinning at it all.what matters most ishow well youwalk through thefire."

"For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us."

"The thing that I fear discriminating against is humor and truth."

"It's so easy to be a poetand so hard to be a man."

"As long as there arehuman beings aboutthere is never going to beany peacefor any individualupon this earth (oranywhere elsethey mightescape to).all you can dois maybe grabten lucky minuteshereor maybe an hourthere.somethingis working toward youright now, andI mean youand nobody butyou."

"I felt I had to win. It seemed very important. I didn't know why it was important and I kept thinking, why do I think this is so important? And another part of me answered, just because it is."

" Think of how many times you put on your underwear in a lifetime. It was appalling, it was disgusting, it was stupid."

"DEATH COMES SLOWLY LIKE ANTS TO A FALLEN FIG."

"Unless it comes out ofyour soul like a rocket,unless being still woulddrive you to madness orsuicide or murder,don't do it.unless the sun inside you isburning your gut,don't do it.when it is truly time,and if you have been chosen,it will do it byitself and it will keep on doing ituntil you die or it dies in you.there is no other way.and there never was."

"Her eyes always had a frantic, lost look. He could never cure her eyes of that."

"Yes, Wagner and the storm intermix with the wine as nights like this run up my wrists and up into my head and back down into the gut."

"The people are the biggesthorror show on earth,have been forcenturies."

"There are so many dayswhen living stops and pulls up and sitsand waits like a train on the rails."

"If I bet on humanity, I'd never cash a ticket."

"I am sick with caring."

"Something else is hurting you - that's why you need pot or whiskey, or whips and rubber suits, or screaming music turned so fucking loud you can't think."

"Well, death says, as he walks by, I'm going to get you anyhow no matter what you've been: writer, cab-driver, pimp, butcher, sky-diver, I'm going to get you."

"I'm one of those who doesn't think there is much differencebetween an atomic scientist and a man who cleans the crappersexcept for the luck of the draw - parents with enough money to point you toward a moregenerous death.of course, some come through brilliantly, butthere are thousands, millions of others, bottled up, keptfrom even the most minute chance to realize their potential."

"Never bring a lot of money to where a poor man lives. He can only lose what little he has. On the other hand it is mathematically possible that he might win whatever you bring with you. What you must do, with money and the poor, is never let them get too close to one another."

"The gods seldomgivebut so quicklytake."

"Waitingin a life full of little storiesfor a death to come."