I've tried to avoid labels, but they always find you.

Sometimes we gotta be brave even when we’re scared. We gotta not let being scared keep us from thinkin’ straight. That’s all brave is, boy, when you come right down to it, not lettin’ the fear get you so turned around you start doin’ stupid things, instead of what you know you ought to do.

Atheists loved to use that term to describe some shadowy force that somehow controlled human destiny, but what the hell did they think the universe was?

Some of the food in Liquor is food I’ve really eaten filtered through a veil of fiction.

In France, for instance, one magazine writer was convinced that On The Road had been a huge influence on Lost Souls and was crushed to learn that I hadn’t read the one until after I’d written the other.

A heart like an artichoke?” “Oui. He has a leaf for everyone, but makes a meal for no one.

I’d much rather do an obviously commercial writing project than get a day job.

And I can’t think of a reason I’d ever use a pseudonym, as I wouldn’t want to publish something that I didn’t like enough to put my name on it.

Jay stopped and unlocked an iron gate with finals wrought in the shape of pineapples.

So what do I do with the rest of my time? he thought. Live rent-free with my parents, write in my notebooks, go out dancing, catch a buzz, get laid? It doesn’t sound so bad. But what if I only have, say, five more years to live?