“My objection to war was not that I had to kill somebody or be killed senselessly, that hardly mattered. What I objected to was to be denied the right to sit in a small room and starve and drink cheap wine and go crazy in my own way and at my own leisure.”
“Like anybody can tell you, I am not a very nice man. I don't know the word. I have
always admired the villain, the outlaw, the son of a bitch. I don't like the clean-shaven
boy with the necktie and the good job. I like desperate men, men with broken teeth
and broken minds and broken ways. They interest me. They are full of surprises and
explosions. I also like vile women, drunk cursing bitches with loose stockings and
sloppy mascara faces. I'm more interested in perverts than saints. I can relax with
bums because I am a bum. I don't like laws, morals, religions, rules. I don't like to be
shaped by society.”
“I'm too careless. I don't put out enough effort. I'm tired.”
“Thirty- eight years old and he was finished. He sipped at the coffee and remembered where he had gone wrong -- or right. He'd simply gotten tired -- of the insurance game, of the small offices and high glass partitions, the clients; he'd simply gotten tired of cheating on his wife, of squeezing secretaries in the elevator and in the halls;
he'd gotten tired of Christmas parties and New Year's parties and birthdays, and payments on new cars and furniture payments -- light, gas, water -- the whole bleeding complex of necessities.
He'd gotten tired and quit, that's all. The divorce came soon enough and the drinking came soon enough, and suddenly he was out of it. He had nothing, and he found out that having nothing was difficult too. It was another type of burden. If only there were some gentler road in between. It seemed a man only had two choices -- get in on the hustle or be a bum.”
“Her eyes always had a frantic, lost look. He could never cure her eyes of that.”
“She drove with the throttle to the floor and took the curves sliding and screeching and without expression. That was class. If she loved like she drove it was going to be a hell of a night.”
“What were you going to do tonight?"
"I was going to listen to the songs of Rachmaninoff."
"Who's that?"
"A dead Russian.”
“Hospitals and jails and whores: these are the universities of life. I’ve got several degrees. Call me Mr.”
“She made the same money in ten minutes that I had made in a day with some hours thrown in. Monetarily speaking, it seemed sure as shit you were better off having a pussy than a cock.”
“Zircoff," I said, "put the tomatoes away."
"Piss," he said, "I wish they were hand grenades.”
“Kimsenin ıstırabı olması gerekenden fazla değildir.”
“Никой не страда повече, отколкото трябва.”
“America had been taught that beauty only resided in youth, especially in the
female.”
“Después de todo ¿por qué era necesario amar a un ser humano? Nunca duraba mucho. Había demasiadas diferencias entre cada individuo, y lo que empezaba siendo amor acababa siempre en guerra despiadada”
“The public is fortunate. Everything pleases them: icecream cones, rock concerts, singing, swinging, love, hate, masturbation, hot dogs, country dances, Jesus Christ, roller skating, spiritualism, capitalism, communism, circumcision, comic strips, Bob Hope, skiing, fishing murder bowling debating, anything. They don’t expect much and they don’t get much. They are one grand gang.”
“The kids sit about sipping at their coffees and waiting for it to happen. It isn’t going to happen.”
“Em termos monetários, parecia mais do que certo que era melhor ter uma buceta do que um caralho.”
“Não posso dizer que odeie o mundo dos homens e das mulheres, mas eu sentia um certo nojo que me separava dos artesãos e dos comerciantes, dos mentirosos e dos amantes, e agora, décadas mais tarde, sinto esse mesmo nojo. É claro, essa é apenas a história de um homem ou a visão de um homem da realidade. Se você continuar lendo, talvez a próxima história seja mais alegre. Espero que sim.”
“Que sonho bom: nunca mais olhar na cara de outro ser humano.”
“Parecia que um homem tinha apenas duas escolhas: acotovelar-se no jogo da ambição ou ser um mendigo.”
“– Existem bilhões de pessoas no mundo que não
atingem o sucesso pela criação. Quer me dizer que elas estão mortas?
– Sim.
– E você tem uma alma? Você é um dos poucos que tem uma alma?
– Diria que sim.”
“os loucos e os bêbados são os últimos santos que sobraram na Terra.”
“–Los hombres se hacen intelectuales porque son cobardes, no desesperados. –Y la diferencia entre cobarde y desesperado es... –¡Bingo! –contesté–. ¡Un intelectual!”
“Dentro de quatro paredes, tinha-se uma chance. Uma vez que se está na rua, já não há chance alguma, está tudo perdido, tudo realmente perdido. Por que roubar algo se não se pode cozinhar seja lá o que for? Como vai trepar com alguém morando no beco? Como se pode transar com alguém com todo aquele ronco dos albergues municipais? E como resistir quando seus sapatos são roubados? E o fedor? E a loucura? Não dá nem para tocar uma punheta. Você precisa de quatro paredes. Dê a um homem quatro paredes por tempo suficiente e é possível que ele consiga se tornar o dono do mundo.”
“Well, you know,” Wayne said. “It’s like I often say…”
“Greet every morning with a smile. That way it won’t know what you’re planning to do to it?”
“No, not that one.”
“Until you know it ain’t true, treat every woman like she has an older brother what is stronger than you are?”
“No, not … Wait, I said that?”
“Yes,” Wax said, turning back to his notes. “It was a very chivalrous moment for you.”
“Rusts. I should really write these things down.”
“i held hands
with my sadness,
sang it songs in the shower,
fed it lunch,
got it drunk
& put it to bed early.”
“Son, you have to know what you want. If someone else has what you want, learn from them, but you must trust your own instincts to make the right decisions. The voice of inspiration will come only after you have a clear picture of what you are seeking, and after you allow yourself to feel truly grateful, as though you already enjoy the success.”
“I don't know who started the myth that sheep are fluffy and white. They were more the color of an old mop and just as matted with dirt.”
“But he remembered that even if she did box his ears, he musn't box hers again, for she was a girl, and all that boys must do, if girls are rude, is to go away and leave them.”
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