From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were - I have not seen
As others saw - I could not bring
My passions from a common spring -

From childhood's hour I have not beenAs others were--I have not seenAs others saw.

I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.

There's nothing good about being ordinary. People don't respect you for it. People run after people who are different, who have confidence in their own taste, who don't run with the herd. There is nothing gained by giving in to the pressures of group vulgarity.

It never got weird enough for me.

When a man is one of a kind, he will be lonely wherever he is.