People begin to write in order to create what they have not found and, a little bit, to give something back.

What's the best thing you can do for your writing? Construct a boring life.

Two or three things I know for sure, and one is that I'd rather go naked than wear the coat the world has made for me.

The horror of class stratification, racism, and prejudice is that some people begin to believe that the security of their families and communities depends on the oppression of others, that for some to have good lives there must be others whose lives are truncated and brutal.

Everything that comes to us is a blessing or a test. That’s all you need to know in this life…just the certainty that God’s got His eye on you, that He knows what you are made of, what you need to grow on. Why,questioning’s a sin, it’s pointless. He will show you your path in His own good time. And long as I remember that, I’m fine.

Delia picked at the raw sores of her conscience...Drunk or sober, Delia lived in the small town in her heart, ignoring the world in which all her love had turned to grief.

I did not begin with craft, I began with strong feelings and worked toward craft.