" i have to add up all numbers: there are some people i never telephone because their number adds up to an unlucky figure. or i won’t accept a hotel room for the same reason. i will not tolerate the presence of yellow roses—which is sad because they’re my favorite flower. i can’t allow three cigarette butts in the same ashtray. won’t travel on a plane with two nuns. won’t begin or end anything on a friday. it’s endless, the things i can’t and won’t. but i derive some curious comfort from obeying these primitive concepts.

— truman capote on his personal quirks, the paris review interviews, I.