"I don't mean to sound bitter, cold or cruel, but I am, so that's how it comes out."

"You just have to know. And when you don't know? No one can fault you for it. You do what you can, when you can, while you can. When you can't, you can't."

"Thirty seconds after you're born you have a past and sixty seconds after that you begin to lie to yourself about it."

You know that when I hate you, it is because I love you to a point of passion that unhinges my soul.

"No matter how insane things become or how far from the truth we are led by histrionics and lies, the truly, objectively beautiful remains untainted."

"Life in Lubbock, Texas, taught me two things: One is that God loves you and you're going to burn in hell. The other is that sex is the most awful, filthy thing on earth and you should save it for someone you love."

"Some people never go crazy, What truly horrible lives they must live."

I was born to hustle roses down the avenues of the dead.

"We've got to live. No matter how many skies have fallen."

Their heads fell apart into sleep like the two halves
Of a lopped melon, but love is hard to stop

In their entwined sleep they exchanged arms and legs
In their dreams their brains took each other hostage

In the morning they wore each other's face

"I'm embracing it, I'm letting it happen to me and I'm letting it in. I'm holding a moment."

i know the last page so well i can't read the first

"Wrong is not what we're about to do. Wrong is wanting to survive it."

"And do you know what I like about comedy? You can't laugh and be afraid at the same time - of anything. If you're laughing, I defy you to be afraid."

"I don't believe in Jesus or God. But I do believe that fundamentalists in religion or anything else are bad, and that they have more hate than love. Jesus' words have become so perverted over time -- it's been like a game of telephone. If he existed, Jesus would fuckin' kill himself."

"People are gonna be who they're gonna be. And we need to learn to love them for who they are and let them love who they want to love."

"Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free."

"People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that's bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they're afraid to feel? Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they're wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It's all in how you carry it. That's what matters. Pain is a feeling. Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you're letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel your pain."

The greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the music the words make.

Sometimes when I'm sad, I sit and watch the power station. They say if you lie between two of the main wires, your body just evaporates... you become a gas. I wonder what that would feel like.