"Hunger is never delicate; they who are seldom gorged to the full with praise may be safely fed with gross compliments, for the appetite must be satisfied before it is disgusted."

"Depend upon it that if a man talks of his misfortunes there is something in them that is not disagreeable to him."

"Criticism, as it was first instituted by Aristotle, was meant as a standard of judging well."

"I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works. An assault upon a town is a bad thing; but starving it is still worse."

"Friendship, like love, is destroyed by long absence, though it may be increased by short intermissions"

"Advertisements are now so numerous that they are very negligently perused, and it is therefore become necessary to gain attention by magnificence of promises and by eloquence sometimes sublime and sometimes pathetic"

"The more crap you believe, the better off you are."

"Nothing is worse than to finish a good shit, then reach over and find the toilet paper container empty. Even the most horrible human being on earth deserves to wipe his ass."

"The trouble with a mask is it never changes"

"Each man's hell is in a different place: mine is just up and behind my ruined face."

"You son of a bitch, she said, I am trying to build a meaningful relationship. you can't build it with a hammer, he said."

"Love is all right for those who can handle the psychic overload. It's like trying to carry a full garbage can on your back over a rushing river of piss."

"Without literature, life is hell."

"I went to the worst of bars hoping to get killed but all I could do was to get drunk again."

"The shortest distance between two points is often unbearable."

"Scent, sound or sight, beneficent, malign – Who cares if you’re a blessing or a curse, So long as you bring light,"

"I am but little disposed to put things in writing. One almost always regrets doing so."

"If rape or arson, poison or the knife Has wove no pleasing patterns in the stuff Of this drab canvas we accept as life - It is because we are not bold enough!"

"In our corruption we perceive beauties unrevealed to ancient times."

"You walk on corpses, beauty, undismayed."

"It’s not a pretty world, Papa.” “I’ve noticed,” my father said softly."

"Do you know what I don't understand about that ball game? I don't understand why I wanted to kill you."

"I would not take one cup of coffee from a grower...There's not a good one. I hate them. A few presents, a little talk, then the noose. That's how capitalism works."

"Non-violence has suffered its biggest defeat in the hands of people who most want to talk about it."