“You wake up in this here world, my sweet li'l mister, you got to wake up tough. You go out that front door tough of a mornin' and you stay tough 'til lights outhave you learned that?”

“The old man had been tanned by the light of too many beer signs, and it just goes to show that you cant live on three packs of Chesterfields and a fifth of bourbon a day without starting to drift f...”

“I think all regions have had their peculiarities of speech rounded off by television, radio, and people travel so much more now.”

“I guess it's ridiculously romantic, but I wanted to be a full tilt, sink-or-swim writer.”

“When poetry is on the money, 12 words can slay you. I admire that greatly.”

“I'm very attracted to poetry for all the reasons someone likes poetry. The notion of compression seems to fit my personality.”

“Sammy, wouldnt you like to add up to something? In the future? Amount to something?Naw. I just figure to roll on, stackin days, you know, till the day I fuck up big enough the future gets canceled....”

“I'm choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises.”

“Future warns us through current symptoms in nature.”

“Human relationships always help us to carry on because they always presuppose further developments, a future - and also because we live as if our only task was precisely to have relationships with ...”

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

“It's the fricking reality that destroys plans.”

“An exceedingly well-informed report,' said the General. 'You have given yourself the trouble to go into matters thoroughly, I see. That is one of the secrets of success in life.”