...in other words, all I want to be is the Jane Austen of south Alabama Interview - March 1964

Characters make their own plot. The dimensions of the characters determine the action of the novel.

Being Southerners, it was a source of shame to some members of the family that we had no recorded ancestors on either side of the Battle of Hastings.

Sometimes it’s better to bend the law a little in special cases.

Serving on a jury forces a man to make up his mind and declare himself about something. Men don't like to do that. Sometimes it's unpleasant.

There was nowhere to go, but I turned to go and met Atticus's vest front. I buried my head in it and listened to the small internal noises that went on behind the light blue cloth: his watch ticking, the faint crackle of his starched shirt, the soft sound of his breathing. 'Your stomach's growling,' I said. 'I know it,' he said.

Southern lawyers don't read novels much.