You're always being judged. No matter what you do, it's not the right thing. If you didn't become successful, then you'd be pointed at as one of those creatures down their who didn't take advantage of this or that, who didn't climb and rise and so forth.

I acknowledge immense debt to the griots [tribal poets] of Africa - where today it is rightly said that when a griot dies, it is as if a library has burned to the ground.

I look at my books the way parents look at their children. The fact that one becomes more successful than the others doesn't make me love the less successful one any less.

In my writing, as much as I could, I tried to find the good, and praise it.

Beginning writers must appreciate the prerequisites if they hope to become writers. You pay your dues - which takes years.

Brown people wouldn't speak to someone who was black.

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