Something that is loved is never lost.

I lived in a little working-class town that had no black neighborhoods at all - one high school. We all played together. Everybody was either somebody from the South or an immigrant from East Europe or from Mexico. And there was one church, and there were four elementary schools. And we were all, pretty much until the end of the war, very, very poor.

Language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names. Language alone is meditation.

There is no civilization that did not begin with art, Whether it was drawing a line in the sand, painting a cave or dancing.

All important things are hard.

Sometimes what I write on the page frightens me, so I feel free when I write, but I don't feel safe.

The language must be careful and must appear effortless. It must not sweat. It must suggest and be provocative at the same time.