Seriousness arises when the value of time is overestimated.

The sickness of seriousness The real stuff (the wild, the holy, the howl) can’t be clocked or sold. Out beyond our fences the wind blows free, and men can laugh so hard his ribs remember they were once wings. Quit believing that only the hard road leads home. Some nights the

Beware the moment when your dreams begin to look like everyone else’s.

Most do not lose themselves in catastrophe, but in approval.

There is something intoxicating about flying over a city just after the sun has withdrawn. Especially on a Friday or Saturday evening. Down below, the lights flicker on. People are dressing themselves into roles: friend, lover, son, daughter. They are preparing, almost

When you look back at the ruined landscape of your existence until now, your life should essentially be a noble one. Not content with cheap rewards. A proud and rich life, even your misery, fit for a king. You can forget experiences but not destroy them. Their sequence represents

People should be exposed to fresh understanding, insights, and new kinds of love often. And if you are experienced in its ways, expose others to dim bars, nightclubs, hotel lounges. We flourish when our world expands. The airport Bloody Mary, happy hour beers with strangers,

You’re not going to be “successful” because you’ve never had your back against a wall. You haven’t felt pressure. You haven’t had your only options being A) figure it out or B) die trying. That’s what it takes. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. That way, no matter what

Travel deeper, not farther.

Try to live in a theatrical world. As half-artists. As good-time men and women. A curious, strangely innocent, yet strangely degenerate life. Too clever and too good-looking to spend a life earning a living in one single job. Depend on casual work, on your charming if you can,

There’s something both beautiful and exhausting about how much you’ve lived.

To whom much has been given, much is required. Live knowing you were overfilled on purpose. With perception and appetite. An excess of inner weather. With restraint as a choice, not a refuge. Refuse the dull heroism of routine and the pride of small ambitions. Dress well even

A life without guarantees is the price of freedom.

Hide nothing from yourself. Try to remain unfinished for as long as possible. Live close to the part of yourself they ask you to suppress. Move through life slightly misaligned. Spend time in places that teach nothing useful. Bars at the wrong hour. Roads without purpose. Your

Do not match your appearance.

If you can keep your head when your head is the only thing you own, when the room is loud with opinions and none of them are yours. If you can wait without calling it waiting, and bleed without turning it into theater. If you can be lied to and not become a liar, or hated and

We are strangers to ourselves.