While Standing On One Foot

A young supplicant, an aspiring poet, somebody like that, seeks out this knowledgeable old philosopher in Paris or New York or somesuch bustling metropolitan situs...and the kid comes to the old guru in his ratty apartment, and he sorta kinda asks him that old saw about the meaning of LIFE. He squats there and says to the old man, "What's it all about? What's it mean? Huh?"

And the old man purses his lips and beetles his brow; he perceives the kid is really serious about this.... So he nods sagely, and clasps his hands behind his back, and he walks to the window and stares out at the deep city for a while, just sorta kinda ponders for a while. And finally, he turns to the kid and he says, with core seriousness, "You know, there's a lotta bastards out there."

Harlan Ellison
"The 3 Most Important Things In Life"