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

A myth is an old lie that people believe in. White people believe that they're better than anyone else on earth - and that's a myth.

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

I knew I wanted to be a writer and I knew if I had a wife and family, I would neglect something, and I was afraid it wouldn't be the writing.

Words mean nothing. Action is the only thing. Doing. That's the only thing.

I think I'm a very religious person. I think I believe in God as much as any man does. I don't only believe in God, I know there's God.

I had to see and feel and be with the thing that I wanted to write about.