Look back, to slavery, to suffrage, to integration and one thing is clear. Fashions in bigotry come and go. The right thing lasts.

I don't have to listen to the Gospel on Sunday to know the stories of the New Testament. They inform so much of what I write that they're practically like a news scrim that goes through my brain 24/7.

I remember adolescence, the years of having the impulse control of a mousetrap, of being as private as a safe-deposit box.

All of us want to do well. But if we do not do good, too, then doing well will never be enough.

I do a lot of mental work before I ever start writing.

We almost manage to forget that things happen that we don't anticipate.

I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write, and there are very few of them.