“Even as a junkie I stayed true to my code – and this certainly wouldn’t have been a problem: I’d have taken a baby held it aloft and said ‘This baby has been sent to earth to destroy all babies’ and let it go back to its mother ”

Simplified Meaning:

In this quote, the speaker is saying that even in their darkest moments, when their life was full of bad decisions, they still had some personal standards they did not break. They are comparing their behavior to a situation where they might do something strange, like jokingly claiming a baby is dangerous, but they would never actually harm the baby. This shows that they still held onto a core set of values, no matter how bad things got. For example, imagine someone who has a serious addiction but refuses to steal from their family because that’s against their personal principles. They might make lots of bad choices, but they still follow this one rule that they would never break. The advice here is about keeping at least some of your values intact, even when facing tough times. It suggests that staying true to some important beliefs can maintain a piece of your integrity, no matter how difficult life gets.