Cherry cobbler is shortcake with a soul.

I never go to weddings. Waste of time. Person can get married a dozen times. Lots of folks do. Family like ours, know everybody in the state of Texas and around outside, why, you could spend your life going to weddings. But a funeral, that's different. You only die once.

I sat staring up at a shelf in my workroom from which thirty-one books identically dressed in neat dark green leather stared back at me with a sort of cold hostility like children who resent their parents. Don't stare at us like that! they said. Don't blame us if we didn't turn out to be the perfection you expected. We didn't ask to be brought into the world.

I am not belittling the brave pioneer men but the sunbonnet as well as the sombrero has helped to settle this glorious land of ours.

A story must simmer in its own juice for months or even years before it's ready to serve.

Living the past is a dull and lonely business; looking back strains the neck muscles, causing you to bump into people not going your way.

A writer's working hours are his waking hours. He is working as long as he is conscious and frequently when he isn't.