Character: Henry Chinaski

I always started work with a feeling of imminent dismissal, which is where those relaxed manners came from, which many mistakenly took for intelligence or some kind of inner hidden power.

I remember well how dad came home in the evenings and talked about work. Every day. The conversation about work began at the door, continued over dinner, and ended in the parents’ bedroom when dad shouted: “Let’s turn off the lights!” - exactly at eight in the evening, because he needed to get enough sleep and gain strength to go to work the next day. A lot of work. Nothing but work.

Are they, these people, that much smarter than me? The only difference between us is money and the desire to save it.

There was really nothing to do except drink wine and make love.

Women are magical creatures. Amazing, supernatural!

I couldn't afford to live with my parents.

Everything is escapism: playing golf, sleeping, eating, walking, arguing, jogging, breathing, ***ing…

I have always been a fan of hair and legs.

When Richard Burton was asked what he looks for first in a woman, he replied: She must be at least thirty years old.

- I'm generally against everyone.

- I'm generally against everyone.

I was in love again. I was in trouble.

Don't call back, I thought. The best woman I've met and so screwed up. I deserve to be defeated. I deserve to die alone in a mental hospital.

I decided to live until eighty. Just think: you are eighty, and *** eat eighteen! This is the only way to cheat death in the game, if you can cheat at all.