I took five years on the first volume, five years on the second volume, and ten years on the third volume.

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.

If we truly believe and understand how omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent God is, we should know He is better equipped to lead our life than we are.

Law, rather than harnessing the passions, is increasingly pressed into their service.

The natural object is always the adequate symbol.

Meanwhile, followers of Eastern religions are sitting in the middle of their minds, experiencing a bliss and a level of consciousness that Western man can't begin to approach.

I would rather play with 10 men than wait for a player who is late for the bus.

Both the artist and the lover know that perfection is not loveable. It is the clumsiness of a fault that makes a person lovable.

To avoid eye contact, kiss.

If you understood everything I say, you'd be me!

We all know fear. But passion makes us fearless.

How can our kids really understand the moral complexities of being alive if they are not allowed to engage in those complexities outdoors?