When we become a really mature, grown-up, wise society, we will put teachers at the center of the community, where they belong. We don't honor them enough, we don't pay them enough.

A true Southerner will never say in 2-3 words what can better be said in 10-12.

Rivers run through our history and folklore, and link us as a people. They nourish and refresh us and provide a home for dazzling varieties of fish and wildlife and trees and plants of every sort. We are a nation rich in rivers.

We always take credit for the good and attribute the bad to fortune.

I would love to write something that people would still read 50 or 100 years from now. That comes with growing older, I think.

I can't remember a time when I didn't want to be a reporter. I don't know where I got the idea that it was a romantic calling.

You never heard anybody ask 'Elvis who?'