The presence of evil was something to be first recognized, then dealt with, survived, outwitted, triumphed over.

Today is always here,' said Sethe. 'Tomorrow, never.

Black literature is taught as sociology, as tolerance, not as a serious, rigorous art form.

Can't nothing heal without pain, you know.

In my mother's church, everybody read the Bible and it was mostly about music. My mother had the most beautiful voice I have ever heard in my life. She could sing anything - classical, jazz, blues, opera. And people came from long distances to that little church she went to - African Methodist Episcopal, the AME church she belonged to - just hear her.

Occasionally, as children, we might figure out how to call somebody a name, and they would figure out how to call us. But it wasn't - it was so light. It was so fluffy. I didn't really have a strong awareness of segregation and the separation of races until I left Lorain, Ohio.

The best part of all, the absolutely most delicious part, is finishing it and then doing it over I rewrite a lot, over and over again, so that it looks like I never did.