The problem was that you had to keep choosing between one evil or another, and no matter what you choose, they sliced off a little bit more of you, until there was nothing left. At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole god-damned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidate who reminded them the most of themselves.
— Charles Bukowski, from “Ham on Rye.”