"I spent 30 years... not living life... but ruining it... for myself... and others... I can't remember... the man... I wanted to be..."
Rick is heard in a voiceover admitting all these things that he's saying. He's making a confession about how he got from where he knew who he wanted to be to a place where he has no clue and in the process he's ruined not only his life but others as well.
"There's no such thing as forever. The highs don't add up."
Karen is heard saying this in a voiceover after her and Rick have met. Her statement is a harsh reality for those living based solely on the urges pulsating out of them rather than from a combination of reason and emotion. "The highs don't add up." simply means that the momentary pleasure won't last.
"...In exile, a stranger in a strange land."
We hear the voiceover of an unidentified man as Rick and his brother are seen together in LA. It represents the reality of Rick's relationship with his brother, that it is strained as they attempt to be "normal" with one another after their life together.
