“The main thing is: Don't take any shit.That's the main thing.The unmain thing is: You are not going to figure anything out except how to get other people to take shit, so forget about everything except not taking any yourself.”

“alternate the theories you entertain about all things.”

“today is a good day to give no one a hard time about anything, or today is a good day to give everyone a hard time about everything.”

“If you could have a famous writer, dead or alive, write an obituary for you and really puff you up to have been something you weren’t, perhaps, or otherwise take liberties with your memory, what writer would you choose?”

“Cholesterol to go with alcohol; all the bad things in English-speaking life end in -ol.”

“in the event that armed men of any sort enter the building, watch their feet closely.”

“Would it require more energy than you have in order for you to really lose it, or do you think really losing it can be a function of having too little energy to prevent losing it? Do the people you do not wish to talk to far exceed the number you do wish to talk to? Do you have much to say to even those to whom you do wish to speak? Do you know where it went wrong for you? Do you own any good copper? Are you favorably disposed to American Indian causes but less so if you must say Native American causes? Are you more at ease in a veneer of civilization or in a true hardwood of barbary?”