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"My dear loser, Glenn greeted Wertheimer, with his Canadian-American cold-bloodedness he always called him the loser, he called me quite dryly the philosopher, which didn't bother me. Wertheimer, the loser, was for Glenn always busy losing, constantly losing out, whereas Glenn noticed I had the word philosopher in my mouth at all times and probably with sickening regularity, and so quite naturally we were for him the loser and the philosopher, i said to myself entering upon the inn. The loser and the philosopher went to America to see Glenn the piano virtuoso again, for no other reason. And to spend four and a half months in New York. For the most part together with Glenn. He didn't miss Europe, Glenn said right off as he greeted us. Europe was out of the question. He had barricaded himself in his house.For life. All our lives the three of us have shared the desire to barricade ourselves from the world. All three of us were born barricaded fanatics. But Glenn had carried his barricade fanaticism to the furthest. In New York we lived next to Taft Hotel, there wasn't a better location for our purposes. Glenn had a Steinway set up in one of the back rooms at the Taft and played there everyday for eight to ten hours, often at night as well. He didn't go a day without playing the piano. Wertheimer and I loved New York right from the start. It's the most beautiful city in the world and it also has the best air, we repeated again and again, nowhere in the world have we breathed better air. Glenn confirmed what we sensed: New York is the only city in the world where a thinking person can breath freely the minute he sets foot in it."

- The Loser
Thomas Bernhard