“That's gotta be one of the principles behind reality. Accepting things that are hard to comprehend, and leaving them that way.”

“Lady, did you ever see anyone shot by a gunwithout bleeding?” This film came out at the height of the VietnamWar.I love that line. That’s gotta be one of the principles behindreality. Accepting things that are hard to comprehend, and leavingthem that way. And bleeding. Shooting and bleeding.”

“Way back when the Sam Peckinpah film The Wild Bunch premiered, a woman journalist raised her hand at the press conference and asked the following: “Why in the world do you have to show so much blood all over the place?” She was pretty worked up about it. One of the actors, Ernest Borgnine, looked a bit perplexed and fielded the question. “Lady, did you ever see anyone shot by a gun without bleeding?” This film came out at the height of the Vietnam War. I love that line. That’s gotta be one of the principles behind reality. Accepting things that are hard to comprehend, and leaving them that way. And bleeding. Shooting and bleeding.”

“It just happens to be the way that I'm made. I have to write things down to feel I fully comprehend them.”

“I'm not afraid to die. What I'm afraid of is having reality get the better of me, of having reality leave me behind.”

“Principles and logic didn't give birth to reality. Reality came first, and the principles and logic followed.”

“Which is why I am writing this book. To think. To understand. It just happens to be the way I'm made. I have to write things down to feel I fully comprehend them.”