I asked a French critic a couple of years ago why my books did so well in France. He said it was because in my novels people both act and think. I got a kick out of that.

No one else can hold your hand or take this voyage of the soul for you.

Dad said I would always be "high minded and low waged" from reading too much Ralph Waldo Emerson. Maybe he was right.

That is simply the most beautiful publishing office in the world, with that cranky old building in that wonderful park.

I asked a French critic a couple of years ago why my books did so well in France. He said it was because in my novels people both act and think. I got a kick out of that.

Fishing makes us less the hostages to the horrors of making a living.

I see more genuine sociability between the races in Mississippi than I see in Michigan. No question.