I write to try to find out who I am. One of my main themes is manliness. I think I'm trying to figure out what manliness really is.

The artist must be like a heart surgeon. He must approach something with sympathy, but with a sort of coldness and work and work until he finds some kind of perfection in his work. You can't have blood splashing all over the place. Things must be done very cleanly.

We looked at each other, and I could see in those big reddened eyes that he was not going to scream. He was full of anger - and who could blame him? - but he was no fool. He needed me, and he wanted me here, if only to insult me.

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.

Now, about that mulatto teacher and me. There was no love there for each other. There was not even respect. We were enemies if anything. He hated me, and I knew it, and he knew I knew it. I didn't like him, but I needed him, needed him to tell me something that none of the others could or would.

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