I didn't really understand racism because I grew up in an all-black society, so I didn't see how it was possible not to like me!

When once I got to America I fell in love with hippie culture, and I've always wanted to live in the country and grow organic vegetables.

An ugly thing, that is what you are when you become a tourist, an ugly, empty thing, a stupid thing, a piece of rubbish pausing here and there to gaze at this and taste that, and it will never occur to you that the people who inhabit the place in which you have just paused cannot stand you.

Another thing I like to say to my students is this: "How many Corinthians read Paul's letters?" The answer is none. They couldn't have cared less! There aren't even any Corinthians left, but Paul's letters persist. Paul was not a professional writer. He was called to something, and he sent his letters. That's a good way to look at it. That you might be making something that nobody cares about, but you have to do it. It's not that people should care, but that you should care.

I know that the fantastic amount of profit that people want to make on anything is damaging. And that none of us seem able to resist it.

I like to be depressing. I feel it's my duty to make everyone a little less happy. You know that line in the Declaration of Independence, "the pursuit of happiness"? I've come to think that it has no meaning at all. You cannot pursue happiness. And to think that this bad little sentence has determined our lives.

I read about writers who have routines. They write at certain times of the day. I can't do that. I am always writing-but in my head.