Even intellectuals should have learned by now that objective rationality is not the default position of the human mind, much less the bedrock of human affairs.

I am open to the accusation that I see compost as an end it itself. But we do grow some real red damn tomatoes such as you can't get in the stores. And potatoes, beans, lettuce, collards, onions, squash, cauliflower, eggplant, carrots, peppers. Dirt in you own backyard, producing things you eat. Makes you wonder.

In the beginning, Atlanta was without form, and void; and it still is.

I think what's really hard is making sense and making what you write clear and smooth-flowing.

A good heavy book holds you down. It's an anchor that keeps you from getting up and having another gin and tonic.

Anyone who undertakes the literary grind had better like playing around with words.

New York walking isn't exercise: it's a continually showing make-your-own movie.