And I'm a slow writer: five, six hundred words is a good day. That's the reason it took me 20 years to write those million and a half words of the Civil War.

Before the war it was always the United States *are*, after the war it was the United States is... it made us an is.

The Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things... It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads.

If you want to study writing, read Dickens. That's how to study writing, or Faulkner, or D.H. Lawrence, or John Keats. They can teach you everything you need to know about writing.

People make a grievous error thinking that a list of facts is the truth. Facts are just the bare bones out of which truth is made.

When you grow up in a totally segregated society, where everybody around you believes that segregation is proper, you have a hard time. You can't believe how much it's a part of your thinking.

A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library.

As a Southerner I would have to say that one of the main importances of the War is that Southerners have a sense of defeat which none of the rest of the country has.

I think making mistakes and discovering them for yourself is of great value, but to have someone else to point out your mistakes is a shortcut of the process.

I abhor the idea of a perfect world. It would bore me to tears.

Longevity conquers scandal every time.

Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.

It is much better to die of hunger unhindered by grief and fear than to live affluently beset with worry, dread, suspicion and unchecked desire.

In the 1940s dams were synonymous with progress, and the rivers were to be conquered with the fervour of a pioneer wielding an axe.

You must accept responsibility for your actions, but not the credit for your achievements.

Half the useful work in the world consists of combating the harmful work.

A stage play requires very different craft from a book, fiction or otherwise, and ditto from a screenplay.

You don't have to be singing about love all the time in order to give love to the people. You don't have to keep flashing those words all the time.

Of what avail are pedigrees?

After seeing 'Big,' I wanted an elevator that opened directly into my apartment, just like Tom Hanks did.

You cannot have a theory without principles. Principles is another name for prejudices.