I tell younger writers that indeed it is devastating to be rejected. You feel like the bottom dropped out of your world.

Racism is taught in our society, it is not automatic. It is learned behavior toward persons with dissimilar physical characteristics.

Either you deal with what is the reality, or you can be sure that the reality is going to deal with you.

I get interviewed a lot, and I found myself listening to what the interviewer is asking me, I'm analyzing what I'm being asked more than my response.

When you clench your fist, no one can put anything in your hand.

Roots is not just a saga of my family. It is the symbolic saga of a people.

Is this how you repay my goodness--with badness?” cried the boy. “Of course,” said the crocodile out of the corner of his mouth. “That is the way of the world.