Status Updates From The Devil Tree

"Yet, as history teaches us, our war economy can only make us a country given over to galloping inflation, not to mention industrial and human waste in gigantic proportions.”

Kosinski, Jerzy. The Devil Tree (p. 145). Grove Atlantic. Kindle Edition.

You could be what Ophelia imagined Hamlet to be: ‘the courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s eyes, tongue, sword. The glass of fashion and the mould of form, the observ’d of all observers.’

Kosinski, Jerzy. The Devil Tree (p. 125). Grove Atlantic. Kindle Edition.

’“While you got yourself high on that,’ said one of the officers, pointing at the stash, ‘you tried to kill your lady.’ He directed his gaze at four bullet holes that hadn’t been in the bedroom walls when I fell asleep.

Kosinski, Jerzy. The Devil Tree (pp. 100-101). Grove Atlantic. Kindle Edition.

"I said that living is an arbitrary matter; that every time I climbed a mountain in Nepal I expected to die on the way up or on the way down; that even now, whenever I drive anywhere, I don’t expect to get where I’m going."

Kosinski, Jerzy. The Devil Tree (p. 70). Grove Atlantic. Kindle Edition.

"And I’ve gained all my wealth and power without risking my life in a war or a rebellion, without bravery or cowardice, betrayal, suffering, or sacrifice. Thus, as a dramatic hero I have no roots in Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, or Stendhal. Am I merely an example of the banality of power and wealth in America?"

Kosinski, Jerzy. The Devil Tree (p. 48). Grove Atlantic. Kindle Edition.

"In response, she said that a man who comes but cannot go is hardly her idea of a perfect lover; that, in fact, she considers my ability to hold off my orgasms, or to go through a series of them, a hang-up as morbid as the control it requires."

Kosinski, Jerzy. The Devil Tree (p. 47). Grove Atlantic. Kindle Edition.

"The next in line, a shaving cream princeling, was a disturbed man. Periodically he would offer his fortune to the poor, but when thousands of them showed up at his door begging for help, he would withdraw and get high on hashish. Last year he blew his head off with a hunting rifle."

Kosinski, Jerzy. The Devil Tree (pp. 34-35). Grove Atlantic. Kindle Edition.

“To remain not liable, I had to be on the move, with no forwarding address.”

Kosinski, Jerzy. The Devil Tree (p. 25). Grove Atlantic. Kindle Edition.

“Look, man, I’m just trying to be friendly, that’s all."

Kosinski, Jerzy. The Devil Tree (p. 7). Grove Atlantic. Kindle Edition.

Beyond all agony and anxiety lies the most important ingredient of self-reflection: the preciousness of my own existence. To my own heart my existence is unique, unprecedented, priceless, exceedingly precious, and I resist the thought of gambling away its meaning.

- ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL,

"Who Is Man?"

Kosinski, Jerzy. The Devil Tree . Grove Atlantic. Kindle Edition.