The sun was prying up the clouds and lighting the brick front of the hospital rose red. A thin breeze worked at sawing what leaves were left from the… - Ken Kesey

When a man showed up you didn't want to look at his face and he didn't want to look at his face and he didn't want to look at yours, because it's painful to see somebody so clear that it's like looking inside him, but then neither did you want to to look away and lose him completely. You had a choice: you could either strain and look at things that appeared in front of you in the fog, painful as it may be, or you could relax and lose yourself.

Colonel Matterson reading from wrinkled scripture of that long yellow hand:

The flag is America. America is the plum. The peach. The watermelon. America is the gumdrop. The pumpkin seed. America is television.

Now, the cross is Mexico. Mexico is the walnut. The hazelnut. The acorn. Mexico is the rainbow. The rainbow is wooden. Mexico is wooden.

Now, the green sheep is Canada Canada is the fir tree. The wheat field. The calendar.

The night is the Pacific Ocean.

I have known a lot of people to go down and out — they kill themselves with alcohol or downers. But I've never known anybody to go up and out.