When you have too much faith in something, it's bound to hurt you. Too much faith in anything will suck you dry. In this way, all the world is a vampire.

New Orleans cuisine is Creole rather than Cajun.

In the Netherlands I read the first chapter of Exquisite Corpse to an audience that laughed in all the places I thought were funny - an experience I've never had in America!

The night is the hardest time to be alive and 4am knows all my secrets.

You hold onto what you have; you do not give it up easily, even when you know it is poisoning you.

You can only maintain an immensely gothic attitude for so long before either killing yourself or beginning to feel like a poser.

Some nights are made for torture, or reflection, or the savoring of loneliness.

I can't heal your pain but I can see it. And you don't have to be lost. Not forever.

Young writers shouldn't be afraid of striving to emulate their favorites. It's a good way to learn, as long as you move on from it and don't publish too many of the results.

Never relinquish your terrors. That's when they catch you.

Ive tried to avoid labels, but they always find you.

You know when I first thought I might have a chance? When I realized that you could go into any bar in the country and insult Lyndon Johnson and nobody would punch you in the nose.

I always tell my children, 'You have to face your fear. If not, it's like running from a dog that will bite you in the back.

The writer cannot abandon himself simply to inspiration, and feign innocence vis a vis language, because language is never innocent.

An amateur at LIFE is an amateur at ART.

I'm not sure why I like cats so much. I mean, they're really cute obviously. They are both wild and domestic at the same time.

Tabasco sauce is to bachelor cooking what forgiveness is to sin.

In life and art it's better to be an enthusiastic amateur than a jaded professional.

I'm very fortunate, and I know that.

Fear is a fire to temper courage and resolve. Use it so.

I'm drinking here break motor oil and Bombay gin, I'll sleep when I'm dead.