"If you think dope is for kicks and for thrills, you're out of your mind. There are more kicks the fuck to be had in a good case of paralytic polio or by living in an iron lung."

"And nosy me, I went and opened [the fishing kit] to see what was inside. And those things are so real, it scared me to death. I must have threw it a mile. You thought he brought home a box full of bug…"

"I'd rather be a junkie than a square."

"I've always been a fighter."

"The blues to me is like a prayer. It's a way of talking to God."