A writer strives to express a universal truth in the way that rings the most bells in the shortest amount of time.

Success is feminine and like a woman, if you cringe before her, she will override you

Tell about the South. What's it like there. What do they do there. Why do they live there. Why do they live at all.

Don Quixote — I read that every year, as some do the Bible.

The only environment the artist needs is whatever peace, whatever solitude, and whatever pleasure he can get at not too high a cost.

The artist is still a little like the old court jester. He's supposed to speak his vicious paradoxes with some sense in them, but he isn't part of whatever the fabric is that makes a nation.

To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi.