I want you to show them the difference between what they think you are and what you can be.

I have learned as much about writing about my people by listening to blues and jazz and spirituals as I have by reading novels.

He told us that most of us would die violently, and those who did not would be brought down to the level of beasts.

...my heart may have been in it but my soul was not.

I write with as much objectivity as I can.

I believe that the writer should tell a story. I believe in plot. I believe in creating characters and suspense.

Nietzsche said without music, life would be a mistake. To me, without books, life would be a mistake.