When we read the Andy Warhol Diaries last (still in print in paper, see ISBN 0446391387) we wrote down a bunch of quotes that just tickled us. They make Warhol seem like a fluttery party boy, but there was also a canny businessman and acute observer of human nature in him. The book is a breezy, enjoyable read (although not for one sitting, at 900 pages) but definitely worthwhile. Is he the Oscar Wilde of 80s New York? Was Bianca Jagger the Paris Hilton of that scene?In particular, his discovery of and interactions with Basquiat are vital reading for anyone interested in him as well.
- “I had a lot of dates, but I decided to stay home and dye my eyebrows.”
Food and eating
- “She [Brigid Polk] just lies there in bed in her room at the George Washington Hotel and waits for the fat to roll off.”
- “The food was good but the caviar only came around once.”
- “A great dinner, hot dogs, ketchup, cola and vanilla ice cream.”
Observations on people
- “…Andrew’s [Wyeth] two sisters, one nutty who looks like she drinks and paints.”
- “…Bunty Armstrong started using her society teeth.”
- ‘[Diana Vreeland] said that she just couldn’t stand being around old people, including herself.”
- “They don’t fight in public, but he’ll do it for art.”
- “Lester [Persky] started getting really drunk, telling me how great it was that we were still friends, even though he’d never done anything for me and never would.”
- “…went out shopping and ran into Mick Jagger.”
- “People on drugs, you think that they don’t notice things, but they notice everything.”
If you like these, we got a whole lot more of them!
Some guy also has a blog where he’s typing in all the text of that book. Although we have sort of mixed feelings about that project, as a blatant copyright infringement, it is a pretty cool resource for searching on the book’s text…
linda fetch 
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