She was one of those Southerners who knew from an early age that the South could never be more for them than a fragrant prison, administered by a collective of loving but treacherous relatives.

Without music, life is a journey through a desert.

It's impossible to explain to a Yankee what 'tacky' is. They simply have no word for it up north, but my God, do they ever need one.

I was born and raised on a Carolina sea island and I carried the sunshine of the low-country, inked in dark gold, on my back and shoulders.

I’ve never had anyone’s approval, so I’ve learned to live without it.

The most powerful words in English are, 'Tell me a story.'

Here is all I ask of a book- give me everything. Everything, and don't leave out a single word.

I stood face to face with the moon and the ocean and the future that spread out with all its bewildering immensity before me.

Good writing ... involves the agony of turning profoundly difficult thoughts into lucid form, then forcing them into the tight-fitting uniform of language, making them visible and clear.

There is no teacher more discriminating or transforming than loss.

The great teachers fill you up with hope and shower you with a thousand reasons to embrace all aspects of life.

The other Clans will soon arrive. The greatest times of our family are before us. And so are the darkest.

Ignorance of true pleasure more frequently than temptation to that which is false, leads to vice.

I know how to treat my voice to make it sound as good as it possibly can - which is still not that good.

Compromise is the oil that makes governments go.

Stupidity is much the same all the world over

I believe that India is such a big country that one must do as much work as possible. So I keep doing that.

I am a man of contradictions, I suppose.

When a loved one passes, there are mixed emotions, and a thirst to live one's own life more deeply can certainly be among them.

Only a woman who had killed a man in battle was allowed to give up her virginity.

I would warn against holsters with devices for quick-draw. Devices always fail when you need them most.