She was what we used to call a suicide blonde — dyed by her own hand. - Saul Bellow

New York makes one think of the collapse of civilization, about Sodom and Gomorrah, the end of the world. The end wouldn't come as a surprise here. Many people already bank on it.

Society is what beats me. Alone I can be pretty good, but let me go among people and there’s the devil to pay.

Towards the end of your life you have something like a pain schedule to fill out — a long schedule like a federal document, only it's your pain schedule. Endless categories. First, physical causes — like arthritis, gallstones, menstrual cramps. New category, injured vanity, betrayal, swindle, injustice. But the hardest items of all have to do with love. The question then is: So why does everybody persist? If love cuts them up so much....