I think writing is really a process of communication. . . . It's the sense of being in contact with people who are part of a particular audience that really makes a difference to me in writing.

These is old blues / and I sing em like any woman do. / These the old blues / and I sing em, sing em, sing em. Just like any woman do. / My life ain't done yet. / Naw. My song ain't through.

A startling and engrossing commentary on the complex actuality and continuing heritage of American slavery.

The historian records, but the novelist creates.

You don't need strength to let go of something. What you really need is understanding.

Original visions are often wrong. Companies have to morph as they learn what customers don't want.

Torture fails to make us safe, but it certainly makes us less free.

And the truth is, I’d felt kind of a thrill about wearing Jason’s Big Boy pants. I was a sick kid, even way back then.

I think we are very environmental people. We need to be supported environmentally. Books very much have that imprint on the mind.

When the church takes affairs of the state more seriously than they do Jesus, Pax Romana becomes its gospel and the president becomes the Son of God.

I care for my dogs as if my life depended on them. And oftentimes it does.

The experience of our generation: that capitalism will not die a natural death.