"No more pretending for him! He was completely and openly a mess.  Meanwhile the rest of us go on trying to fool each other."

-Denis Johnson, Jesus' Son (pg. 118)

"When I realized how long I'd been out and how close I'd come to leaving it forever, our little home seemed to glitter like cheap jewelry. I was overjoyed not to be dead.  Generally the closest I ever came to wondering about the meaning of it all was to consider that I must be the victim of a joke.  There was no touching the hem of mystery, no little occasion when any of us thought--well, speaking for myself only, I suppose--that our lungs were filled with light, or anything like that.  I had a moment's glory that night, though.  I was certain I was here in this world because I couldn't tolerate any other place."

-Denis Johnson, Jesus' Son (pg. 34)

"He'd wasted his entire life.  Such people were very dear to those of us who'd only wasted a few years."

-Denis Johnson, Jesus' Son (pg. 31)

"What the hell is his problem?" Richard asked.
"It doesn't matter what his problem is, until he's fully understood it himself," the man said.

-Denis Johnson, Jesus' Son (pg. 20)

"His blood bubbled out of his mouth with every breath.  He wouldn't be taking many more.  I knew that, but he didn't, and therefore I looked down into the great pity of a persons's life on this earth  I don't mean that we all end up dead, that's not the pity.  I mean that he couldn't tell me what he was dreaming, and I couldn't tell him what was real."

-Denis Johnson, Jesus' Son (pg. 8)