Writing is very hard work and knowing what you're doing the whole time.

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.

O wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful wonderful! And yet again wonderful, and after that, out of all hooping.

I hurt easy, I just don't show it. You can hurt someone and not even know it.

I think that it is our intention to deny cancer any control over us.

It'd be nice if Asian actors could be perceived as profitable, which is the bottom line. We're perceived as not mattering much fiscally.

Poetry in motion walking by my side, her lovely locomotion keeps my eyes open wide.

I love good creditable acquaintance; I love to be the worst of the company.

Bones heal, chicks dig scars, pain is temporary, glory is forever.

I don't think of it as a competition - which might surprise you, given the way movies are reported constantly.

What's great is my parents aren't stuck in the '60s. My dad is so into the culture of today.