82 Quotes by Jim Carroll

Conscience is no more than the dead speaking to us.

I'll Die For Your Sins If You Live For mine.

Does each song, he wondered, have a certain time and place-beyond the subjective aspects of technique and talent-whenit is perfectly played by the performer, or perfectly received by the listener? If so, he wondered, what if by some huge cosmic coincidence both occurred simultaneously? He felt he had just witnessed such a phenomenon. Could the same process occur with other art forms?

Does each song, he wondered, have a certain time and place-beyond the subjective aspects of technique and talent-when it is perfectly played by the performer, or perfectly received by the listener? If so, he wondered, what if by some huge cosmic coincidence both occurred simultaneously? He felt he had just witnessed such a phenomenon. Could the same process occur with other art forms?

all right buddah gets a backstage pass but all his friends have to pay

Sex is no longer a beautiful thing", she said. "It has become an entirely separate entity from what was quaintly known as making love. It's been transformed into a game between the sexes. It is as deceptive as chess and as anonymous as those men in helmets, racing cars on TV. This generation of men and women have turned it into a frenetically overenergetic contest and a performance. The more outlandish the game, the more popular it becomes".

On a whim, he stopped and bought a watch from a sidewalk vendor. Normally, Billy could not abide keeping time, especially when it was attached to one’s body. Time was like a relentlessly needy lapdog one had to haul around. It barked too much and had no sense of loyalty.

You have to retrace your steps and see how you got to where you are", the bird said sarcastically, "which, I might add, is a pretty pathetic situation".

I have to reregister a room for my heart. It's been waiting a long time, somewhere outside, without so much as a whisper of protest. That abandonment wasn't just an abuse, it was a sin.