JOSHUA

“Gatsby was great, but most unlikely. Gatsby was too unreal. Although I thought Fitzgerald wrote as well as any American novelist in the twentieth century, Gatsby was as far from truth as Fu Manchu. He was too soft to be what he was storied to be. Gatsby might be a cat burglar, but Gatsby was definitely not a gangster. He lacked the force of will to compel tough men to his bidding simply by force of will. He failed another test; he was too weak for a broad.”
― Edward Bunker, Education of a Felon: A Memoir

“Convicts on the main line sent me books from the library. I’ve always been able to make it if I could read.”
― Edward Bunker, Education of a Felon: A Memoir

“The thief’s underworld, which is different from that of the mafiosi, gang bangers, and racketeers, has many adages and observations. If you can’t do the time don’t mess with crime is the best-known. Another is: A thief’s nerve is in direct proportion to his financial condition. Or: Hard times make hard people.”
― Edward Bunker, Education of a Felon: A Memoir

“Everything in life stands on what has gone before. You do this or that because, at the moment, it seems what to do. You are faced with this or that because of what happened somewhere earlier in your journey of life. What happened earlier depends on what went before that. Who would dispute that nobody stands in a void or a vacuum?”
― Edward Bunker, Education of a Felon: A Memoir