We are not buried in history, but surrounded by it. You can't avoid our behavior being shaped by it, to a considerable degree. We have this fantasy that we are free of history. This allows us not to see the circumstances, the historical circumstances of other people.

Our sins describe us, and our prohibitions describe our sins.

But on the other hand, I don't actively seek out stories or hunt them down.

We know that people we love are both good and bad, but we expect strangers to be one or the other.

What I am finding now is that my audience is getting younger as I get older, which is a very good thing as you know - you don't want them to get older as you get older.

Motivations are too tangled and complex.

If you are born black, it is better to be born now than in any other time in United States history. My grandson is black. His life is a different life than if he had been born when I was born.