I was trying to unravel the complicated trigonometry of the radical thought that silence could make up the greatest lie ever told.

I wanted to become the seeker, the aroused and passionate explorer, and it was better to go at it knowing nothing at all, always choosing the unmarked bottle, always choosing your own unproven method, armed with nothing but faith and a belief in astonishment.

I meet kids now who become novelists, poets, write for the theater and movies, who were simply inspired by what they saw during the Spoleto Festival.

I was born and raised on a Carolina sea island and I carried the sunshine of the low-country, inked in dark gold, on my back and shoulders.

The mind is an intricate mechanism that can be run on the fuels of both victory and defeatism.

The University of South Carolina has always played a role in my life and the intellectual life of South Carolina.

Craziness attacks the softest eyes and hamstrings the gentlest flanks.