“How can you [accept] exploitation?' 'How can you like the complete mechanization of work?' 'How can you like bad art?' I have to answer that I accept it as being there, in the world.”

“Lance Armstrong: How bad do you want to win a stage in the Tour de France?
Floyd Landis: Real bad.
Armstrong: How fast can you go down hill?
Landis: I go downhill real fast. Can I do it?
Armstrong: Sure you can do it … run like you stole something Floyd.”

“Human beings have this peculiar capacity that no other creatures have: I know how I can be hurt, because I am aware of my own limitations–painfully aware—and now, because I know how I can be hurt, I know how you can be hurt, and I can take advantage of that. And that's how evil enters the world.”

“It’s very important to be able to accept things, you know. Gracious acceptance is an art – an art which most of never bother to cultivate. We think that we have to learn how to give, but we forget about accepting things, which can be much harder than giving.”

“Why do you paint?
For exactly the same reason I breathe.
That’s not an answer.
There isn’t any answer.
How long hasn’t there been any answer?
As long as I can remember.
And how long have you written?
As long as I can remember.
I mean poetry.
So do I.”

“I am often asked the question How can the masses permit themselves to be exploited by the few. The answer is By being persuaded to identify with them.”

“I don't like the idea of fruit being all turned on because of cream being poured on it. How then can you eat that fruit?”

“You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.”

“I'm stunned. Is this a trick to steal my shoes? Thirty-year carnie vet Wayne-o is offering me, me, a corn dog. I think I've officially been accepted as a fellow carny! We all want acceptance, and maybe that's the allure of the carny life—no matter how big of a freak you are in the outside world, if you work hard enough, you can be accepted as a carny.”

“A human being can be good or bad or right or wrong, maybe. But how can you say a person is illegal? You just can't. That's all there is to it.”