"Me personally and professionally, I haven't been that outspoken about race and class, partly because it's in my work,…"

"Writing is the act of failing at something all the time. Do it with a sense of humor, and it ain’t no big deal. Life …"

"You can’t become a good writer unless you have the ability to see that everybody is seeking to ease his or her pain, …"

"Most of my characters: they don't yell, they don't scream. They don't curse, by and large. They're good people. And y…"

"I tell them that a simple story is the best story, and that time and place is really crucial to good storytelling. Es…"

"When I was a kid, my mother told me about the time my sister got lost at the circus in New York in Madison Square Gar…"

"She smiled a little bit. “Most of us has a desire to mind other folks’ business,” she said. “That’s the child in you,…"

"You ugly enough to keep ants out of a picnic, mister."

"I’m in the last October of life looking for a few more Aprils. I don’t want to remember no more."

"Sitting around bullshitting ain’t no problem for Man, who can ignore his own heart and treat his own with all kinds o…"