That's the beauty and the terror of being human beings: We just have these symbolic languages, these dreams, and that's all it ever is.

You have to be a minor superhero just to get to be a dignified man, and that's kind of exacerbated for men of color.

One of the earliest lessons I learned as a child was that if you looked away from something, it might not be there when you looked back.

My father combined many of the elements that were feared in the culture, but also he was a warm figure, a figure we needed. We depended on him to give us a little bit of strength and courage.

I had a deep prejudice against the South. It's taken me many years to get over that, be more open and thoughtful.

That's the beauty and the terror of being human beings: We just have these symbolic languages, these dreams, and that's all it ever is.

When I'm writing, I'm thinking, "Well, this might be a book that I'll always be happy with, and certainly readers will be happy with." But another part of me knows that when I'm past the stage of writing, the book is gonna have good things about it, bad things about it - probably more bad than good. I just know that. That's who I am.