I feel that discussing story-writing in terms of plot, character, and theme is like trying to describe the expression on a face by saying where the eyes, nose, and mouth are.

You will have found Christ when you are concerned with other people’s sufferings and not your own.

You shall know the truth, and it will make you odd.

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.

Right now the whole world seems to be going through a dark night of the soul.

Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one.

...you have to cherish the world at the same time that you struggle to endure it.

What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.

[To] know oneself is, above all, to know what one lacks. It is to measure oneself against Truth, and not the other way around. The first product of self-knowledge is humility . . .

It is the business of the artist to uncover the strangeness of truth

I don't deserve any credit for turning the other cheek as my tongue is always in it.

Like petals what's beautiful is often delicate. Take care of the ones you love by not holding them too tightly

I would be a huge hypocrite if I didn't tell you that at one time in my life I thought the way that you made music was you got on a major label and you got famous.

Exclusiveness is a characteristic of recent riches, high society, and the skunk.

Nobody who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty.

If you like what you're reading, I probably wrote it.

I feel like a serious revolution needs to take place in order for human beings to evolve in a way where we can truly exist as a society.

I'm not a disciplined writer.

The aim of military training is not just to prepare men for battle, but to make them long for it.

I thought beforehand, if [Marie] Henein is going to be a shark, I'm going to be a jellyfish, because you can't catch a jellyfish. Not that I didn't want to be caught, I just wanted to present solid.

Happiness depends on what happens; joy does not.