The Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things... It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads.

I began the way nearly everybody I ever heard of - I began writing poetry. And I find that to be quite usual with writers, their trying their hand at poetry.

I never cared what kind of grade I got.

A rich man's war and a poor man's fight.

If you want to study writing, read Dickens. That's how to study writing, or Faulkner, or D.H. Lawrence, or John Keats. They can teach you everything you need to know about writing.

And I really do think that the difficulty of research makes it more real to you than punching a thing to find out how many men were killed at this particular action.

A combination of all that was best in the gladdest days of the departing year.