Only a lunatic would think that art is superior to nature.

Dreams are more real than reality itself, they're closer to the self.

Writing eases my suffering . . . writing is my way of reaffirming my own existence.

Walk where your heart leads you, there are no restrictions and no burdens.

If you want to do anything, do it now, without compromise or concession, because you have only one life.

Observing humans and observing oneself yields a clear-minded starting point for literature.

Loneliness is a prerequisite for freedom. Freedom depends on the ability to reflect, and reflection can only begin when one is alone.

It's in literature that true life can be found. It's under the mask of fiction that you can tell the truth.

Love is so holy, so confusing. It makes a man anxious, tormented. Love, how can I define it?

I don't want to be a strong hero who can save society. I just want to save myself.

For me, writing [was] a question of survival...I could not trust anyone, even my family. The atmosphere was so poisoned. People even in your own family could turn you in.

Born in Jabalpur, I was brought up in Deolali, where my father ran a small business of making fire extinguishers.

I quit drinking, and I figure if I go to ten Yankee games this year without drinking I'll save $32,000.

What? You’d dare drink right after getting out of jail for intoxication?” That’s when you need a drink the most.

Don't forget who you are and where you come from.

It is not true that there is dignity in all work. Some jobs are definitely better than others.

Poem in other words may or may not result from inspiration but must (in reader and author alike) produce it--

Burroughs is the greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift.

Every life has a soundtrack.

It's not up to me ... to make the world consistent.

One of the first things to learn if you want to be a contemplative is to mind your own business. Nothing is more suspicious, in a man who seems holy, than an impatient desire to reform other men.