45 Quotes by Jerry Stahl

Destroy your life; then put it back together.You'll get great material, meet some fascinating characters and – side benefit – the skills you develop will give you greater compassion, insight and range with the people you create on the page – or run into off of it.

To me, God is like this happy bus driver.

Still... I would have hugged my mother if we were the kind of family who hugged. If touching her weren't impossible. If her subnightie waft was not so utterly, fatally repulsive. That's how much I loved her.

Happiness, to me, was no different than Mom's paprikalaced domino bars: something that looked sweet until you took a bite, and then made you want to vomit.

I’m wearing a diaper. Right now.

You need an entire drama to construct your life around to avoid living it.

There’s no deodorant for desperation.

For me there was never a lot of glamor involved in being a junkie, it was about trying to hide the puke and bloodstains on my shirt.

You may think you don’t want to throw your life away for mere fleeting euphoria. But, once you get a taste, it doesn’t feel so mere. From then on the planet becomes a waiting room. The rest of your life devolves to no more than the time between highs.