Racism will disappear when it's no longer profitable, and no longer psychologically useful. And when that happens, it'll be gone. But at the moment, people make a lot of money off of it, pro and con.

I feel like today we always glorify the young, just-plucked-from-college writer. But it's much harder to start writing later, in middle age, struggling on a book around a full-time job and family.

Some Native American writers enjoy being called Native American writers.

It was a fine cry - loud and long - but it had no bottom and it had no top, just circles and circles of sorrow.

Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.

Evil is not interesting. What is it, chopping off someone's head? We used to do that as kids, you know, you tear up paper dolls and stuff. I know everyone's done it in the history of the world, but maybe everybody was dumb and they were just looking for something interesting to do. What's really interesting and hard is being good.

Anything I have ever learned of any consequence, I have learned from Black people. I have never been bored by any Black person, ever.