Sometimes the Bible in the hands of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hands of another.

Miss Caroline seemed unaware that the ragged, denim-shirted and floursack-skirted first grade, most of whom had chopped cotton and fed hogs from the time they were able to walk, were immune to imaginative literature.

Weeping for Anna Karenina and being terrified by Hannibal Lecter, entering the heart of darkness with Mistah Kurtz, having Holden Caulfield ring you up - some things should happen on soft pages, not cold metal.

Writing is simply something you must do. It's rather like virtue in that it is its own reward.

I'm gonna be a new kind of clown. I'm gonna stand in the middle of the ring and laugh at the folks.

I just thought you'd like to know I can read. You got anything needs readin' I can do it.

Don’t talk like that, Dill,” said Aunt Alexandra. “It’s not becoming to a child. It’s – cynical.” “I ain’t cynical, Miss Alexandra. Tellin’ the truth’s not cynical, is it?” “The way you tell it, it is.