Anyone not paranoid in this world must be crazy. . . . Speaking of paranoia, it's true that I do not know exactly who my enemies are. But that of course is exactly why I'm paranoid.

Yes, I'm paranoid — but am I paranoid enough?

Do you think it's possible for an entire nation to be insane?

Is everyone really crazy but me?

A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on.

Please don't continually say I'm paranoid.
Why?
It makes me paranoid.

As a member of the avant-garde who is capable of perceiving the conspiracy before it is fully obvious to an as yet unaroused public, the paranoid is a militant leader. He does not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the manner of the working politician. Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish. Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminated–if not from the world, at least from the theatre of operations to which the paranoid directs his attention. This demand for total triumph leads to the formulation of hopelessly unrealistic goals, and since these goals are not even remotely attainable, failure constantly heightens the paranoid’s sense of frustration. Even partial success leaves him with the same feeling of powerlessness with which he began, and this in turn only strengthens his awareness of the vast and terrifying quality of the enemy he opposes.

This Sarah Palin phenomenon is very curious. I think somebody watching us from Mars — they would think the country has gone insane.

A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on. A psychotic is a guy who's just found out what's going on.

I think anybody incapable of changing his mind is crazy.

I'm afraid of Americans.

As for paranoia, anyone who has the imagination to postulate all possibilities is automatically a paranoiac.

When even one American - who has done nothing wrong - is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth, then all Americans are in peril.

I mean it's very hard to meditate and live a spiritual life in America. People think you're a freak if you try to.